By Martin Cole-
The Australian city of Sydney has gone into a two-week lockdown after a rise in the number of coronavirus cases. The lockdown now covers the whole city and some surrounding areas, and is extended from one week to two. More than 80 cases of the highly infectious Delta variant were confirmed in the city in recent days.
The slow vaccination roll out in the country has been blamed for the spike in cases which critics say needs to be accelerated.
New South Wales state Premier Gladys Berejiklian said stay-at-home orders would be in place until 9 July for all of Greater Sydney – with a population of about five million – and the surrounding regions of Blue Mountains, Central Coast and Wollongong.
“When you have a contagious variant, like the Delta virus, a three-day lockdown doesn’t work – if we’re going to do this we need to do it properly,” she said.
“We do need to brace ourselves for a potentially large number of cases in the following days.”
Parts of Sydney, Australia’s biggest city, were already under lockdown due to the outbreak, but health authorities said cases and exposure sites were increasing too rapidly.
“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.
Australia has been more successful in managing the pandemic than many other advanced economies through swift border closures, social distancing rules and high compliance, reporting just over 30,400 cases and 910 Covid deaths.
But the country has confronted small outbreaks in recent months. These have been contained through speedy contact tracing, isolation of thousands of people at a time or snap hard lockdowns.
Police have said they will use number plate recognition technology to monitor vehicles and ensure people have not strayed out of their lockdown zone.
On Saturday, New Zealand paused its quarantine-free travel bubble with all of Australia for three days because of the latest outbreak. Travel between New Zealand and specific Australian regions has been closed for short periods as outbreaks occurred, but this is the first time the bubble has been shut with all of Australia.
Australia has consistently maintained very low rates of Covid transmission and this is the first lockdown in Sydney – its largest city – since December.
The outbreak of new infections emerged a week ago in Bondi, the famous beach suburb, and spread first into the city centre and then to its western fringes.
It has been linked to a driver who transported international arrivals from the airport.
State Health Minister Brad Hazzard described the Delta variant – which first emerged in India – as a “very formidable foe”.
“No matter what defensive steps we’re taking at the moment, the virus seems to understand how to counter-attack,” he said. In a video message, Prime Minister Scott Morrison thanked residents for their patience and forbearance, adding: “Together, Sydney, we’ll get through this.”
“This pandemic, sadly, is still raging all around the world and from time to time it will have its impact here in Australia,” he said.
The latest outbreak has fueled criticism of the federal government’s slow vaccination rollout.