SYDNEY – Sydney extended its two-month-old lockdown for another month and introduced a partial curfew today, as it struggles to contain a fast-spreading Covid-19 outbreak.
New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian announced the “difficult” decision, telling the five million population of the largest city in Australia that it is time to “bunker down”.
“Unfortunately the case numbers continue to grow,” she said.
“This is what life will look like for most of us until the end of September.”
For much of the pandemic, Sydney saw very few cases, but is now reporting more than 600 infections a day – straining contact tracing efforts – and that number shows little sign of shrinking.
Stay-at-home orders will now remain in place across the city until the end of September, and residents in virus hotspots will be subject to a night-time curfew and limited to one hour of outdoor exercise a day.
Around 1,000 defence force personnel are helping police implement restrictions, as the weary public increasingly bend the rules.
With the number of deaths steadily rising and the virus spreading to regional areas, Australia is racing to get jabs in arms as just 30% of its population is fully vaccinated. – AFP, August 20, 2021
