Sydney goes into lockdown as Delta variant surges
Officials reported 17 new Covid cases on Friday night
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Your support makes all the difference.Sydney and some surrounding areas entered a two-week lockdown on Saturday as authorities struggle to control an outbreak of the highly infectious Delta Covid-19 variant.
More than one million residents will be impacted by the new restrictions which stretch out to the eastern suburbs, including Bondi Beach.
Health authorities have become increasingly concerned in recent weeks due to increasing cases of the variant, which first originated in India. Officials reported 17 new cases on Friday night.
“Even though we don’t want to impose burdens unless we absolutely have to, unfortunately this is a situation where we have to,” said New South Wales state premier, Gladys Berejiklian.
Under the rules in place through 9 July, people can leave home for essential work, medical care, education or shopping. The rest of the state will have limits on public gatherings and masks will be obligatory indoors.
Australia has been more successful in managing the pandemic than many other advanced economies through swift decisive action of lockdowns and border control.
The country has reported just over 30,400 cases and 910 Covid-19 deaths.
However the country has confronted small outbreaks in recent months, that have mostly been curtailed through effective contact tracing.
Saturday’s lockdown in New South Wales will also include the regions of Blue Mountains, Central Coast and Wollongong, which surround Sydney, a city of 5 million people.
“There was no point doing it for three days or five days because it wouldn’t have done the job,” Berejiklian told a news briefing.
Berejiklian was reportedly reluctant to impose the lockdown, but a growing number of health experts called for it, as Australia struggled with its vaccination rollout.
Michael Kidd, Australia‘s deputy chief medical officer, said 28 per cent of people aged 16 or older have received their first Covid-19 vaccine. Of the 7.2 million administered doses, 5.8 million were first doses.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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