COVID-19 Infection Cases In Sydney Continue To Increase Despite The Implementation Of Strict Lockdown

An illustration of the silence of Sydney, Australia due to COVID-19. (Wikimedia Commons/Adam.JWC)

JAKARTA - The State Authority of New South Wales (NSW), Australia continues its efforts to prevent the spread of the Delta variant of the COVID-19 infection outbreak, after reporting a third consecutive increase in new infection cases.

Half of Thursday's total of 24 infections were detected in the community, while others who were infected were already quarantined at home, officials said, as Sydney approached a week of strict lockdown imposed to contain an outbreak of the highly contagious Delta variant.

"(This) raises concerns. That's what we will look at in the next few days and beyond as a measure of our success", NSW state prime minister Gladys Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney.

Berejiklian said, even during the strict lockdown, many people with flu-like symptoms continued to do business activities so that they could transmit the coronavirus to others.

"We can't allow that to happen, assume that you have the virus or that people you come into contact with have the virus and act accordingly".

Australia is battling a simultaneous rise in infections in several states for the first time this year, with nearly half of all Australians under stay-at-home orders to prevent a significant outbreak of the Delta strain.

Sydney, Perth, Brisbane, and Darwin have imposed strict lockdowns in recent days to fight the fast-transmitting Delta variant, after months in which Australia nearly eliminated the virus.

The city of Alice Springs, the gateway to UNESCO World Heritage-listed Uluru, on Wednesday also went into lockdown after an infected traveler spent hours at the city's airport.

The total number of cases in the latest outbreak in NSW, the worst-affected state, is approaching 200 since a new wave of infections occurred about two weeks ago after a limousine driver carrying an overseas airline crew was detected as exposed.

The state of Queensland detected two new local cases, as it tracked four different virus clusters, three of which were the Delta variant.

Nevertheless, the lockdown, rapid contact tracing, and strict social distancing have made the Kangaroo Country successful in containing the spread of infection cases since last year's pandemic. Based on Worldometers data, Australia recorded 30.642 cases of infection with 910 deaths due to COVID-19, and 29.358 patients were declared cured.