Sydney Is Getting Gloomy And Again Sets A Record Of COVID-19 Infections, 700 Soldiers Are Deployed To Conduct Lockdown Patrols

Illustration of Australian police standing guard during lockdown enforcement. (Wikimedia Commons/Matt Hrkac)

JAKARTA - The State of New South Wales has decided to increase the number of troops in Sydney, to patrol to tighten lockdown enforcement starting next week, after Australia's largest city set another record daily infection.

"Unfortunately, this trend (in some cases) will continue for at least the next few days", New South Wales (NSW) Prime Minister Gladys Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney.

As daily COVID-19 cases hover near record highs in the city, the defense department said it had received requests for additional personnel, to help support state police enforce home quarantine orders in the worst-affected suburbs.

"The Defense is preparing to deploy an additional 200 personnel starting Monday to assist NSW police", a defense department spokesman said. With about 580 unarmed military personnel assisting police in Sydney, including monitoring compliance activities at hotels and airports. Later there will be around 700 soldiers involved to assist the police in the city.

Despite Sydney's nearly seven-week lockdown, the State of New South Wales reported 390 new locally acquired cases, the vast majority of cases in the city. This figure surpassed the previous daily high of 356 cases last Tuesday. This brings the daily cases to have surpassed 300 for the past four days.

Several regional cities in New South Wales were also on lockdown as people broke the Sydney lockdown, spreading the virus. One of the most concerning is the town of Walgett, northwest New South Wales, where 80 percent of the population is indigenous.

PM Berejiklian said the spike in the highly contagious Delta variant had never been tested this large in Australia, but stopped short of announcing tougher restrictions and pleaded with Sydney's five million residents to strictly follow existing restrictions to contain the outbreak.

"I'm kind of tired of hearing people say they don't know what to do", Berejiklian whispered.

The spike in cases comes as Australia's national cabinet is due to meet on Friday, amid fears an outbreak of the Delta variant in the state could seep across the country, where only about 25 percent of people over 16 are fully vaccinated.

In anticipation, several states have closed their borders with New South Wales, or imposed entry restrictions to stop the spread.

Separately, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who has come under fire for slow vaccination rollouts, has called on fellow world leaders in a bid to get the vaccine delivered quickly, the Australian Financial Review reported on Friday, as the latest outbreak has prompted a surge in people being injected. The prime minister's office did not respond to a request for comment.

Despite the current outbreak, Australia still has a significantly lower number of COVID-19 than many other countries in the developed world, with over 38.100 cases and 948 deaths.