Support for Australian PM falling amid COVID-19 outbreaks: poll

Voter approval of Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has fallen amid COVID-19 outbreaks across the country.

According to a survey published by The Guardian on Tuesday, approval of Morrison has dropped from 57 percent in June to 51 percent while disapproval rose from 36 to 40 percent.

Support for the federal government's handling of the pandemic fell from 53 to 44 percent while the number of those who described the response as "poor" increased from 24 to 30 percent.

The poll of more than 1,000 voters was taken as more than 12 million Australians were thrust into lockdown recently in response to coronavirus outbreaks across the country.

Morrison faced backlash from peak medical bodies and state and territory health authorities after he announced that people under 40 could consult their doctor "if they wish to go and speak to their doctor and have access to the AstraZeneca vaccine."

However, the poll found Morrison remains more popular than Labor Party leader Anthony Albanese.

Almost 50 percent of respondents to the poll identified Morrison as their preferred PM compared to 28 percent for Albanese, whose approval rating was 41 percent.

Fifty-one percent said they had either already received a COVID-19 vaccine or were happy to be inoculated as soon as possible and 16 percent said they would never get vaccinated .

As of Monday afternoon, there had been 30,803 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Australia, and the numbers of locally and overseas acquired cases in the last 24 hours were 38 and eight respectively, according to the latest figures from the Department of Health. And the number of locally acquired cases in the last seven days was 209.