Delta Variant COVID-19 Infection Cases Increase Again, Lockdown In Sydney Has Been Extended

Illustration of Sydney, Australia. (Wikimedia Commons/Adam.JWC)

JAKARTA - The Australian State Authority of New South Wales (NSW) on Wednesday, July 7 local time decided to extend Sydney's strict lockdown for a week.

This decision was taken in line with predictions that there will still be more cases of COVID-19 infection in the city, as it is struggling to deal with the highly contagious Delta variant.

Sydney, home to one-fifth of Australia's 25 million people, has been under a strict two-week lockdown, from June 26 to Friday, July 9.

However, with today's decision, Sydney will be in lockdown until July 16, to tighten surveillance, control the Delta variant, and efforts to increase COVID-19 vaccinations.

"This Delta variant is a game-changer, highly contagious and more contagious than any other form of the virus we've seen", NSW Prime Minister Gladys Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney.

In the worst outbreak of the year, Sydney's total has recorded 350 cases of COVID-19 infection, since the first case of a limousine driver on the outskirts of Bondi Beach carrying crew members of an overseas airline, was detected as infected about three weeks ago.

Berejklian on Wednesday warned Sydneysiders it expected an increase in cases of COVID-19 infection within the next 24 hours.

A total of 27 new cases of locally acquired COVID-19 were reported today in NSW, up from 18 the previous day. Of the new cases, 20 were in isolation for or part of the period of their infection, while seven cases spent time in the community while they were infectious.

Lockdowns, rapid contact tracing, and high public compliance with social distancing rules have helped Australia contain the outbreak over the past year, keeping COVID-19 rates relatively low.

Cited from Worldometers, as of Wednesday, July 7, the Kangaroo Country recorded a total of 30.861 cases of COVID-19 infection, with a death toll of 910 and the number of recovered patients reaching 29.405.

Meanwhile, schools in Sydney will return to distance learning starting next week, after ending the southern hemisphere winter break on Friday, to avoid crowds at schools.