Sydney police to step up enforcement after Covid-19 record
Australian authorities on Tuesday (Aug 10) vowed to crank up policing of anti-corona virus lockdown rules in Sydney, but dismissed suggestions that tougher measures, including a curfew, were needed after the city reported its biggest single-day new case number yet. With more than 5 million residents of Australia's biggest city now in lockdown for more than six weeks, Sydney reported 343 new infections in an outbreak stoked by the spread of the highly transmissible Delta strain of COVID-19, up 66 from the day before and topping the last one-day peak set on Saturday.
Tougher policing in the most-affected areas has divided Sydney and stoked resentment in some of Australia's most migrant-heavy neighborhoods.Authorities in New South Wales state, home to Sydney, also announced three deaths from the virus, all of them unvaccinated. A total of 357 casesare in hospitals, with 60 in intensive care, 28 of whom require ventilation.
Amid questions about the effectiveness of Sydney's lockdown, under which residents are supposed to stay at home bar essential movements, New South Wales authorities said police have been asked to step up checks on how many people were being allowed inside small shops at the same time as they were still seeing "lots of unnecessary movement of people".Neighboring Victoria reported 20 new cases, up from 11 a day earlier, with 15 of Tuesday's infections having spent time in the community, raising the prospect of an extended lockdown in Melbourne, the country's second-biggest city, beyond Thursday.
