The spread of the delta variant of the coronavirus from Sydney into regional areas of latest South Wales state — which had 344 cases on Wednesday — has forced another Australian city into lockdown Dubbo, a city of about 50,000 people some 240 miles from Sydney, is that the latest to possess stay-at-home orders enforced for a minimum of one week after two cases of the infectious variant were detected, New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters. Meanwhile Melbourne, Australia’s second-largest city, extended its lockdown for an additional week.
“Over the last two days we’ve seen a surge within the number of cases and that we expect that to continue,” Berejiklian said after the state detected a record 356 delta cases the day before. there have been two new fatalities within the state on Wednesday, with a minimum of 17 of the new infections recorded in its regional areas.
Dubbo joins Sydney — Australia’s largest city with almost 6 million people — which has thus far did not bend the curve of latest cases despite enforcing stay-at-home orders for quite six weeks. within the past week, cities including Newcastle, Byron Bay and Tamworth also entered snap lockdowns after being exposed to delta, isolating them from the remainder of the state Melbourne recorded 20 new cases within the community on Wednesday. it’ll stay in lockdown for a minimum of another seven days beyond Thursday, when the stay-at-home orders were thanks to lift. the town is within the midst of its sixth lockdown since the pandemic began.
The lockdowns within the nation’s two largest cities along side an increasing number of regional areas show the delta variant of the coronavirus is placing increased pressure on Australia’s so-called “Covid Zero” strategy. The outbreaks also are having an economic impact, with gross domestic product expected to contract this quarter.
Before the emergence of delta fueled infections, the state used strict border controls and rigorous testing to eliminate community transmission of the virus. Now, Prime Minister Scott Morrison is during a race to build up a tardy vaccine rollout during a bid to start out reopening international borders next year According to the Bloomberg Vaccine Tracker, just 18% of Australians have received two shots — among rock bottom levels within the developed world.
Morrison says his government’s vaccine rollout is learning pace and every one adults are going to be offered an inoculation this year. within the meantime, Australians remain susceptible to snap lockdowns, whilst nations like the U.S. and U.K. have largely opened with quite half their populations fully vaccinated.
In Sydney, Berejiklian had previously indicated that some restrictions within the city may ease by the top of this month should full adult vaccination rates reach 70% and case numbers are brought in check .
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