An unfortunate side-effect of Australia's battle with the Delta strain over the last eight weeks has been to distract attention away from the catastrophic impacts of climate change in the northern hemisphere.
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In the last two months flooding has killed hundreds of people across Europe, in China and in India and epic heatwaves have sparked massive wildfires in America, Canada, Turkey, Spain, Greece and elsewhere.
Most of these events, many of which are reminiscent of Australia's "Black Summer" in 2019 and 2020, and the unprecedented flooding that occurred across the eastern part of the country earlier this year, have been linked to anthropogenic global heating.
In Turkey, which has now been battling deadly wildfires for more than a week, eight people have died. Another 10,000 have been evacuated. In Greece, which experienced a major fire on the island of Rhodes, the electricity grid is close to failure with temperatures of up to 45 degrees in some inland areas. Italy and Croatia have both experienced wildfires, storms and even tornadoes.
Climate scientists regard these unfortunate developments as confirmation of long standing predictions that as the world heats up "black swan" weather events - and the fires and floods that accompany them - will become more and more frequent.
Dann Mitchell, a professor of climate science at the University of Bristol, said the south eastern European heatwave "is not at all unexpected, and very likely enhanced due to human-induced climate change".
"This year we have seen a number of significant events ... these black swan events have always happened, but now they sit on the background of a hotter climate, so are even more deadly."
Climate change is no longer "a threat". It is a reality that is melting icecaps and permafrost, elevating sea levels and increasing the frequency of climate extremes. All of this means that it is more urgent than ever for the nations of the world to step up the actions they are taking to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to net zero by 2050 if not before.
The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has has declared a is a 'Code Red' for humanity. The sixth IPCC assessment released Monday night shows global warming of at least 1.5C above pre-industrial levels is anticipated within 20 years.
