The Australian government on Wednesday extended lockdown restrictions in Sydney for another week. On June 26, a two-week lockdown was imposed in the city. The restrictions were to be eased in the city on July 9, but now people will have to stay in their homes till July 16. A total of 27 new local cases of COVID-19 reported in NSW on Wednesday.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said, "This Delta strain is a game-changer, it's extremely transmissible. We don't want to be in a position where we are constantly having to move between lockdown, no lockdown, lockdown, no lockdown. We don't want to prolong the lockdown, we don't want to see Sydney or New South Wales going in and out of lockdown until we have the vast majority of our population vaccinated."
Berejiklian urged residents to limit visits to family as data suggested the virus was spreading during such meetings. He requested people with flu-symptoms to take their entire family for COVID-19 tests due to the highly transmissible Delta strain. More than one million population of the city is currently under strict lockdown. He said an extension — which includes school closures — was the "best chance of making sure this is the only lockdown we have until the vast majority of our citizens are vaccinated."
On the other hand, Health officials said that the lockdown was necessary as cases of the delta variant are increasing rapidly in the city. A total of 30,400 cases of corona infection and only 910 deaths reported in Australia so far. In contrast, Britain is considering lifting lockdown restrictions with 27,000 new infections each day.
