COVID-19, Governor Of New South Wales Decides Sydney's Fate In The Next 24 Hours
JAKARTA - The Prime Minister of New South Wales (NSW), Australia Gladys Berejiklian announced on Tuesday 6 July local time that his party will decide whether or not to extend the lockdown in Sydney in the next 24 hours.
The two-week lockdown status imposed on Sydney, to prevent the spread of COVID-19 infection with the Delta variant, is scheduled to expire on Friday this week. Meanwhile, new infections in Australia's most populous state have decreased
Only 18 new locally acquired COVID-19 cases were detected in NSW on Tuesday, half the previous day's number. But Prime Minister Gladys Berejiklian said the decision would also take into account her government's determination to make the current lockdown in the city of five million people a last resort, as it aims to increase vaccinations.
"That will be a factor in our decision-making, whether (the two-week lockdown) is over by Friday or whether we continue for a longer period," Berejiklian told reporters.
"I look forward to communicating with the community tomorrow about what the next week will be like," he continued.
Sydney went into a strict lockdown on June 26 to quell the turmoil of the Delta variant of the COVID-19 outbreak. However, some officials are frustrated with the discovery of new cases of infection linked to illegal gatherings and people violating social distancing rules, increasing the prospects for the virus to spread.
Of Tuesday's cases, 16 were in isolation during or part of the period of their infection. The other two cases spent time in the community while they were contagious.
Sydney itself continues to struggle against the COVID-19 outbreak, which this year is worse than last year. A total of more than 330 cases of infection have been recorded in the city, since the first case was detected nearly three weeks ago, when a limousine driver carrying an overseas airline crew member was diagnosed with the infection.
To note, rapid contact tracing, lockdowns, strict social distancing rules and high community compliance have kept Australia's COVID-19 rate significantly lower among other developed countries.
Launching Worldometers, as of Tuesday, the Kangaroo Country currently recorded a total of 30,829 cases of infection with 910 deaths, and a total of 29,405 recovered patients.