COVID-19 Delta Variant Still Spreading, Australia Extends Lockdown

Illustration of the Prahran area, Victoria, Australia. (Wikimedia Commons/Mat Connolley)

JAKARTA - Australian authorities have decided to extend the lockdown in the state of Victoria to stop the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant despite a decline in new case reports.

Victoria state Prime Minister Daniel Andrews said lockdown rules would not be lifted as the virus is still being detected in the community, promising more details will be provided on Tuesday.

"It might be sunny a few days and then there's a very high chance we'll be back in lockdown again. That's what I'm trying to avoid", Andrews said in explaining why the lockdown wouldn't be lifted, cited from Reuters, Monday, July 19.

Victoria, the second-most populous state in the Kangaroo State which includes Melbourne State, reported 13 new locally acquired cases on Monday, down from 16 the day before.

Nearly half of Australia's 25 million people are under home-lock, after the country's largest city, Sydney, went into a five-week lockdown, and all of Victoria state under stay-at-home rules in the Delta variant spread rapidly, sparking an outbreak worst since last year's pandemic.

Meanwhile, the state of New South Wales, the capital city of Sydney, reported 98 new locally acquired cases, down from 10 the day before, with 20 new cases being transmitted while in the community.

"The number 20 is a number we really want to push. The closer it is to zero, the sooner we can end the lockdown", New South Wales State Prime Minister Gladys Berejiklian said during a televised news conference.

New South Wales has twice extended lockdown measures in Sydney since they were first imposed on 26 June, with the strict restrictions now scheduled to expire on 30 July.

Although cases declined on Monday, Berejiklian said the state would not see the effects of a harsh lockdown for another four or five days, asking people not to associate with extended families, as most infections run in families.

Meanwhile, to support the increase in the COVID-19 vaccination program, in which only about 13 percent of Australian adults have received the two-dose vaccine. A total of 1 million doses of Pfizer vaccine arrived in Australia overnight.

Citing Worldometers, Australia has a total of 32.105 cases of COVID-19 infection with 914 deaths, and 29.594 patients have recovered as of Monday, July 19 local time.