COVID-19 Delta Variant Spreads In Australia, Sydney To Darwin implement Strict Lockdown

Illustration of the city of Sydney, Australia. (Wikimedia Commons/Franklin Heijnen)

JAKARTA - Australia extended lockdowns and social distancing measures to more states on Wednesday, June 30 local time, with four major cities under strict lockdown to contain the spread of the Delta variant of COVID-19.

About one in two Australians are under stay-at-home orders, with millions more subject to movement restrictions and required to wear masks amid the COVID-19 outbreak in some locations.

With more than five million Sydney residents under a two-week lockdown through July 9, the state of New South Wales reported 22 cases of locally transmitted COVID-19 on Wednesday, all linked to previous infections.

This number was up slightly from the previous two days, but still below the current outbreak peak of 30 new cases reported on Sunday.

"New South Wales is showing a steady rate of cases at this stage but to date, our fears of a major escalation have not materialized and we certainly want to stay that way", state Prime Minister Gladys Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney, cited from Reuters Wednesday, June 30.

With a total of about 170 new locally transmitted cases, since the first infection of the Delta variant was detected two weeks ago, NSW is the state or territory hardest hit by the current wave of COVID-19.

Residents of Sydney, Perth, Brisbane, and Darwin are now under lockdown. Officials issued a stay-at-home order for the city after a potentially infected traveler used the airport.

South Australia, reported its first locally transmitted case for 2021 but did not enforce a full lockdown, saying it believed the threat could be contained. Meanwhile, Queensland reported three new locally acquired cases, Western Australia recorded one case and the Northern Territory recorded no infection.

Due to the conditions in the Kangaroo Country, Singapore has imposed a week-long quarantine for travelers from Australia. This rule will take effect from Friday the day after tomorrow.

To note, the lockdown, strict social distancing, rapid contact tracing, and high community compliance have helped Australia contain previous outbreaks. Launching Worldometers, Australia recorded a total of 30.611 cases of COVID-19 infection with 910 deaths, and 29.358 people recovered since last year's pandemic.