Australia’s Health Minister, Greg Hunt, on Tuesday, said that the country was on high alert as coronavirus continues to spread in the community.

According to him, there have been 30,562 confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported on Tuesday, adding that the numbers of local and overseas acquired cases in the last 24 hours are 25 and seven respectively.

“We are obviously on high alert and high watch, several capital cities of the country’s eight states and territories have been thrust into lockdown to prevent the spread of the virus.

“More than 10 million people subject to stay-at-home orders, the new cases confirmed on Tuesday were in Australia’s most populous state of New South Wales (NSW), he said.

Hunt said that Australia had surpassed 7.5 million administered COVID-19 vaccines, which included over 5.95 million first dose vaccination of the population and over 1.47 million second dose vaccination of the population.

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“We have over 4.4 million Australians over the age of 50 that is about 51.3 percent of the over 50s population that has been vaccinated.

“60 percent of over 60s and 68.5 percent of over 70s, our most vulnerable group,” he said.

He urged states to accept as many residents and citizens as they could into hotel quarantine.