New South Wales Sets Record Again For COVID-19 Infections Due To Delta Variant, State Governor: It's Not The Worst Yet

Ilustrasi Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. (Wikimedia Commons/Adam.J.W.C)

JAKARTA - The Sydney Delta outbreak has yet to peak and residents should brace for more deaths, authorities said on Wednesday, as Australia's largest city continues to break records for new daily infections despite a nearly two-month lockdown.

"We haven't seen the worst and the way we can stop this is with everyone staying at home", New South Wales (NSW) Prime Minister Gladys Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney, the state capital.

New South Wales reported its biggest daily rise of 633 new cases, including 545 in Sydney, topping the state's previous daily high of 478 last Monday. Sixty people have died since the first Delta case was reported in Sydney on June 16, including three confirmed on Wednesday.

With only about 28 percent of New South Wales's population over the age of 16 already receiving the full COVID-19 vaccine, state Health Chief Kerry Chant warned there would be more deaths if cases continued to rise.

Australia is in the grip of the third wave of infections that have exposed weaknesses in the country's vaccine rollout, forcing more than half of its 25 million population into lockdown.

Only a quarter of the adult population has been fully vaccinated so far, putting pressure on Prime Minister Scott Morrison whose government has failed to meet its initial vaccine target.

Sydney, Melbourne, and the capital Canberra are under strict lockdown orders, pushing the A$2 trillion economies or about USD 1.5 trillion to the brink of a second recession in as many years.

Separately, the State of Victoria, home to Melbourne, reported 24 new cases of locally acquired COVID-19 on Wednesday, the same number as the previous day, as authorities raced to track infections from unknown sources.

With more than 40.000 cases and 970 deaths, Australia has largely averted the high COVID rates seen in many other developed countries. However, efforts to contain the outbreak in Sydney have failed, with the virus spreading to several regional cities where vaccination rates are low.

To step up the rollout, five teams of defense personnel vaccinations will arrive in regional cities this week. More than 500.000 doses of Pfizer's vaccine, half of the supply procured from Poland over the weekend, have been distributed to 12 of Sydney's worst-affected suburbs, to vaccinate people under 40.