Australia Imposes Lockdown to More Cities Amid Outbreak of Delta Variant

Australia reported a slight increase in the COVID-19 cases on Tuesday in its most populous state, New South Wales (NSW). The rise was due to the Delta variant of the virus. To contain flare-ups of the extremely infectious Delta form, officials tightened restrictions and pushed for vaccinations.

Since the first case of the Delta variant was reported in NSW, Australia is currently fighting it in five out of eight states and territories.

As the fear of major outbreak due to Delta variant, Australia is forced to impose lockdowns in three major cities and curbs in other cities. This has affected more than 20 million Australians.

From Tuesday evening, Queensland will impose a three-day lockdown in Brisbane and some of its surrounding areas. Perth, the capital of Western Australia, joined Sydney and Darwin in a four-day lockdown on Tuesday.

“The risk is real and we need to act quickly, we need to go hard, we need to go fast,” Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said. The state reported two new local cases.

Sydney is currently under a two-week lockdown until July 9. The lockdown in the northern city of Darwin has been extended by 72 hours until Friday.

An outbreak in Sydney has increased the cases to 150, linking them to the Delta variant.

More strict restrictions, including wearing of masks and less gathering, are also in place across Australia.

Australia Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce was fined 200 AUD by NSW police for not wearing a mask at a petrol station. He was the highest-ranking government official to be fined for not complying with COVID-19 rules.

NSW reported 19 new cases, from 67,000 tests, against 18 cases the previous day.

No cases were reported by Western Australia while Northern Territory has reported two new cases.

Australia is looking to increase the COVID-19 shots per day. It has declared that the vaccination of high-risk aged-care workers and employees in quarantine hotels is mandatory.

AstraZeneca (AZN.L) has been made available for citizens below the age of 60.

Previously, officials only made AstraZeneca vaccines available for citizens above the age of 60 due to blood clot worries.

Authorities have now stated that persons under the age of 60 may request the AstraZeneca vaccination if their doctors authorize it and that they will be covered by a no-fault indemnification mechanism similar to what has been seen in other countries.

Health officials say that AstraZeneca has better immunity to viruses.

As a result of lockdowns and more strict rules, Australia has managed to keep its COVID-19 figures low.

So far Australia has reported 30,528 cases with 910 deaths. But Prime Minister Scott Morrison says that the Delta variant presents “very different challenges”.

Following the lifting of COVID-19 limits in Wellington on Tuesday, New Zealand said it would restart quarantine-free travel with South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, and the Australian Capital Territory next week.

New Zealand restricted traveling from and to Australia on Saturday as a result of the Sydney outbreak.

Several restrictions were imposed in Wellington a week ago after an Australian tourist was tested positive.

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