While Australia experiences growing restrictions to curb the spread of the Delta Variant of COVID-19, the United Kingdom this week celebrated 'Freedom Day'.
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After almost two years of harsh lockdown conditions, on July 19 residents in England were allowed to remove the masks and return to relatively normal life.
Some areas of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have maintained restrictions as case numbers are expected to rise even from the 30,000 new cases a day rate previous set.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been more than 4 million infections as Britain quickly soared to the seventh highest nation in the world for virus deaths.
Meanwhile, here in Australia, since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been about 32,000 cases which is fewer infections than even one day in the UK.
Yet restrictions are tightening and borders are closing all over the country.
The tough conditions in NSW have spread from the Greater Sydney cluster, with a hotspot now in the regional city of Orange forcing the neighbouring towns into a snap lockdown.
New local cases in Victoria have sparked a seven-day extension to the state's lockdown.
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In response to five new cases in South Australia which are linked back to Sydney, the state has entered a seven-day lockdown.
The difference is in the rate of vaccination as well. In the UK, 46 million people have received at least a first dose of a vaccine.
Whereas in Australia, there have been 10 million doses administered as the country continues to witness a shortage in supply of the Pfizer vaccine.
In order to lift the lockdown in NSW, Premier Gladys Berejiklian has set a target of 10 million doses to be administered in just NSW.
That will amount to 60 per cent of population in Australia, and on Monday Ms Berejiklian explained that the target may also include children as the Delta Variant continues to affect younger people.
"Vaccination, in relation to the Delta strain, won't necessarily just mean adults, which is where the 10 million jabs came from, it will also mean younger adolescents and younger children," Ms Berejiklian said.