Australia extends lockdown in Sydney as Covid-19 spreads
Australian authorities extended a lockdown in Sydney on Wednesday by at least 14 days, after three weeks of initial restrictions failed to stamp out the biggest outbreak of COVID-19 this year in the country's largest city.
New South Wales state Premier Gladys Berejiklian said restrictions would remain in place until at least July 30 after reporting 97 new locally transmitted cases, a slight increase from a day earlier. "It always hurts to say this, but we need to extend the lockdown at least further two weeks," Berejiklian said in Sydney on Wednesday. "We want to get out of this lockdown as soon as we can and that is why we have the settings in place that we have." Since the first case of the outbreak was detected near the famous Bondi Beach in mid-June, the shutdown has been extended twice.
Total infections across the harbor city of 5 million now stand at just under 900 and two deaths have been reported, the first for the country this year.
Berejiklian has repeatedly said that the lockdown, in place since June 26, will only be lifted when the number of newly reported cases that were circulating in the community while infectious were close to zero. Of the 97 new cases, 24 people were infectious in the community, meaning authorities expect more cases of highly contagious Delta variant.
