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Australian authorities yesterday pleaded with Sydney’s 5mn residents to stay home, warning a three-week lockdown may be extended as they struggle to control a Covid-19 outbreak, with the city reporting the biggest rise in local cases in 2021. Hundreds of extra police patrolled parts of Sydney to enforce the city’s lockdown orders imposed to stamp out an outbreak of the highly infectious Delta variant which now has a total of more than 400 cases. “New South Wales (state) is facing the biggest challenge we have faced since the pandemic started,” state Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney. “At the moment the numbers are not heading in the right direction.” “Please do not leave your house. Do not leave your home, unless you absolutely have to,” Berejiklian said. Fourty-four locally acquired cases were reported yesterday in NSW, Australia’s most populous state, eclipsing 38 a day earlier, with 29 of those having spent time in the community while infected. There are currently 43 cases in hospital, with 10 people in intensive care, four of whom require ventilation. The rise in cases is despite a two week lockdown of Australia’s largest city, which has now been extended to a third week ending July 16. In Sydney’s southwestern suburbs, now the epicentre of the outbreak, streets were virtually deserted yesterday, with groups of police patrolling the suburbs. In efforts to further restrict people’s interaction, from yesterday evening public gatherings were limited to two people and residents are only allowed to travel 10kms from their home. Berejiklian also rejected reports the government was considering a shift of policy to “living with the virus”, citing low vaccine coverage in Australia. “If we choose to live with this while the rates of vaccinations are at 9%, we will see thousands and thousands of hospitalisations and deaths,” Berejiklian said. Although Australia has fared much better than many other developed countries in keeping its Covid-19 numbers relatively low, its vaccination rollout has been among the slowest due to supply constraints and changing medical advice for its mainstay AstraZeneca shots. Australia has relied on the Astrazenica vaccine to fight the pandemic, but now limits it to people aged over 60 in its mass vaccination centres due to the risk of bloodclots, leaving short supplies of Pfizer for people 40-60 years of age.

* NSW faces ‘biggest challenge’ in pandemic * Reports biggest daily rise in cases for 2021 * Extra police patrols parts of Sydney Australian authorities on Friday pleaded with Sydney's five million residents to stay home, warning a three-week lockdown may be extended as they struggle to control a Covid-19 outbreak, with the city reporting the biggest rise in local cases in 2021. Hundreds of extra police patrolled parts of Sydney to enforce the city's lockdown orders imposed to stamp out an outbreak of the highly infectious Delta variant which now has a total of more than 400 cases. ‘New South Wales (state) is facing the biggest challenge we have faced since the pandemic started,’ state Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney. ‘At the moment the numbers are not heading in the right direction.’ ‘Please do not leave your house. Do not leave your home, unless you absolutely have to,’ Berejiklian said. Fourty-four locally acquired cases were reported on Friday in NSW, Australia's most populous state, eclipsing 38 a day earlier, with 29 of those having spent time in the community while infected. There are currently 43 cases in hospital, with 10 people in intensive care, four of whom require ventilation. The rise in cases is despite a two week lockdown of Australia's largest city, which has now been extended to a third week ending July 16. In Sydney's southwestern suburbs, now the epicentre of the outbreak, streets were virtually deserted on Friday, with groups of police patrolling the suburbs. In efforts to further restrict people's interaction, from Friday evening public gatherings will be limited to two people and residents will only be allowed to travel 10 kms (6 miles) from their home. Berejiklian also rejected reports the government was considering a shift of policy to ‘living with the virus’, citing low vaccine coverage in Australia. ‘If we choose to live with this while the rates of vaccinations are at 9%, we will see thousands and thousands of hospitalisations and deaths,’ Berejiklian said. Although Australia has fared much better than many other developed countries in keeping its Covid-19 numbers relatively low, its vaccination rollout has been among the slowest due to supply constraints and changing medical advice for its mainstay AstraZeneca shots. Australia has relied on the Astrazenica vaccine to fight the pandemic, but now limits it to people aged over 60 in its mass vaccination centres due to the risk of bloodclots, leaving short supplies of Pfizer for people 40 to 60 years of age. Roughly a quarter of hospitalisations in the Sydney outbreak are people aged 35 and under, an age bracket not yet eligible for vaccinations under the government's programme. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Friday said Pfizer would increase Covid-19 vaccine delivery to about one million doses a week from July 19, more than tripling current shipments, but said no decision had been made on making it available for those under 40. ‘That puts us in a very strong place to be able to get this job done as we move towards the end of the year and indeed perhaps sooner,’ he said. Pfizer said the total number of 40 million doses it is contracted to deliver to Australia over 2021 had not changed. Morrison said Pfizer was bringing forward vaccine deliveries to Australia from September to August. The state of South Australia would meanwhile run a trial of home quarantine, Morrison said, following criticism of the two-week hotel quarantine required of all people entering the country. Hotel quarantine virus leaks have been the source of Australia's community outbreaks, after the country effectively eliminated the virus by shutting its international borders. Jamal Rifi, a general practitioner from a Sydney district where infection numbers are rising, said many residents had misunderstood the Delta variant risk but were gaining awareness as cases increased. ‘The word has spread in the community and I reckon you'll see more people now limiting their movement, taking this Delta variant more seriously.’    

Australia’s New South Wales (NSW) state yesterday reported its biggest daily rise in locally acquired cases of Covid-19 this year as officials struggle to stamp out a growing cluster of the highly infectious Delta variant. The spike in cases after two weeks of a hard lockdown in Sydney, Australia’s largest city, raised the prospect of a further extension in restrictions, with officials blaming illegal family visits for a continuing rise in infections. NSW reported 38 new local cases, up from 27 a day earlier, with 11 of those having spent time in the community while infectious. Given Australia’s slow vaccine rollout, NSW state Premier Gladys Berejiklian implored residents to not visit homes of family and friends, citing the highly transmissible nature of the Delta strain. “It’s really important for all of us to stay the course and follow the health advice to give us the best chance of getting out of this lockdown in a timely way,” Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney. A strict stay-at-home order has been in force in Sydney, home to a fifth of the country’s 25mn population, since June 26. Asked if it might be extended beyond its current planned end date of July 16, Berejiklian said it would be “an unrealistic assumption” to control the Delta variant amid low vaccination rates and people flouting social distancing rules. The state’s police force will deploy 100 additional officers in Sydney’s south west, from today to ensure that residents are wearing masks and not breaking Covid-19 restrictions. “Clearly we are still having members of the community that don’t comply,” deputy commissioner Mal Lanyon told a press briefing. “Those police will be a very visible presence,” he said. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the federal government would ensure adequate economic support if the lockdown was extended, saying the state was on “shifting sands” and urged patience. “I know people are getting tired...getting frustrated. This is a virus we are dealing with, and it tends to set its own rules,” Morrison said during a televised media conference. The latest infections took Sydney’s total in this outbreak to nearly 400 since the first case was detected more than three weeks ago in a limousine driver who transported overseas airline crew. Australia has fared much better than many other developed countries in keeping Covid-19 numbers low, with just under 30,900 cases and 910 deaths, however, the country’s slow vaccination rollout has taken some of the shine off this success.

* NSW logs biggest daily rise in cases this year * Officials urge residents to remain home * PM says most populous state on ‘shifting sands’ Australia's New South Wales (NSW) state on Thursday reported its biggest daily rise in locally acquired cases of Covid-19 this year as officials struggle to stamp out a growing cluster of the highly infectious Delta variant. The spike in cases after two weeks of a hard lockdown in Sydney, Australia's largest city, raised the prospect of a further extension in restrictions, with officials blaming illegal family visits for a continuing rise in infections. NSW reported 38 new local cases, up from 27 a day earlier, with 11 of those having spent time in the community while infectious. Given Australia's slow vaccine rollout, NSW state Premier Gladys Berejiklian implored residents to limit visits to homes of family and friends, citing the highly transmissible nature of the Delta strain. ‘It's really important for all of us to stay the course and follow the health advice to give us the best chance of getting out of this lockdown in a timely way,’ Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney. Berejiklian said she had no plans to prolong the current lockdown beyond July 16, but warned it would be ‘an unrealistic assumption’ to control the Delta variant amid low vaccination rates and people flouting social distancing rules. Just over 9% of people in NSW have been fully vaccinated, while about 29% have had a first dose. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the federal government would ensure adequate economic support if the lockdown was extended, saying the state was on ‘shifting sands’ and urged patience. ‘I know people are getting tired ... getting frustrated. This is a virus we are dealing with, and it tends to set its own rules,’ Morrison said during a televised media conference. A strict stay-at-home order has been in force in Sydney, home to a fifth of the country's 25 million population, since June 26, restricting people's movements and limiting gatherings. ELIMINATE VIRUS The Australian Medical Association (AMA), meanwhile, warned NSW authorities to avoid lifting any lockdown rules before totally suppressing the Delta outbreak. ‘There is no alternative to elimination for New South Wales ... nowhere in the world has any community been able to live with Delta without very significant levels of vaccination,’ AMA President Omar Khorshid said. The latest infections took Sydney's total in this outbreak to nearly 400 since the first case was detected more than three weeks ago in a limousine driver who transported overseas airline crew. Australia has fared much better than many other developed countries in keeping Covid-19 numbers low, with just under 30,900 cases and 910 deaths, however, the country's slow vaccination rollout has taken some of the shine off this success.      

* Delta is a "game-changer" - state premier * Sydney lockdown until July 16 * Brace for more cases, officials warn Sydney residents * Vaccination drive has fallen well behind initial schedules The leader of Australia's New South Wales (NSW) state on Wednesday ordered a week-long extension of Sydney's Covid-19 lockdown, warning new cases are bound to rise as the country's biggest city grapples with the highly infectious Delta variant. Sydney, home to a fifth of Australia's 25 million people, was plunged into lockdown on June 26 as a Delta variant outbreak persuaded officials to tighten restrictions in a country that has been slow to vaccinate. Strict stay-at-home orders were due to end on Friday, but now remain in place until July 16. "This Delta strain is a game-changer, it is extremely transmissible and more contagious than any other form of the virus that we've seen," NSW state Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney. With Sydney fighting its worst outbreak of the year so far, total infections have topped 350 since the first case was detected three weeks ago in a limousine driver who transported overseas airline crew. A total of 27 new locally acquired cases of Covid-19 were reported on Wednesday in NSW, up from 18 a day earlier. Of the new cases, 20 were either in isolation throughout or for part of their infectious period, while seven cases spent time in the community while they were infectious. Lockdowns, swift contact tracing and a high community compliance with social distancing rules have helped Australia suppress past outbreaks and keep its Covid-19 numbers relatively low, with just over 30,800 cases and 910 deaths. The current lockdown is Sydney's second since the pandemic began. Health officials warned Sydney residents they expect cases to rise in the next 24 hours and urged residents in three western suburbs - Fairfield, Canterbury-Bankstown and Liverpool - to stay home. Liverpool Deputy Mayor Mazhar Hadid said there was "no choice" but to lock down the neighbourhood. "I know it's affecting small businesses in Liverpool, it's like they've lost their city, but we need to do the right thing," he told Reuters. Schools in Sydney will move to remote learning next week when they return from the winter break. With less than 10% of Australians fully vaccinated and rolling restrictions ordered in Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth as well as Sydney, lockdowns are starting to wear on residents watching other parts of the world open up. As crowds gather at Wimbledon to watch the tennis championships, sporting events including the Australian F1 Grand Prix have been cancelled. "Let's lock down the people that are vulnerable, you don't lock down healthy people because a few are sick. It's just not making sense and your numbers don't justify it," Sydney resident Paul Coleman told Reuters at Bondi, near the epicentre of the latest outbreak. Australia's vaccination drive has fallen well behind initial schedules after age restrictions were placed on AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine, the backbone of the country's programme, due to the small risk of blood clots. Canberra has since scrambled to secure additional supplies of Pfizer's vaccine, although large quantities are not due to arrive until late in the year. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg told reporters that "challenges have been forced upon us" in the inoculation programme but the pace was picking up.

The highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus is surging through Asia, with record numbers of infections in Australia and South Korea, prompting some countries to tighten curbs and others to hasten vaccination. The variant, first detected in India in December last year, has spread to about 100 countries and the World Health Organisation warned recently that it could soon become the dominant form of the virus. It is also driving a spike in cases in Japan, casting a pall over this month’s Olympic Games. Australia’s New South Wales state, its most populous, yesterday reported the biggest daily rise in new cases so far this year. Total cases in the state in the latest outbreak have topped 200, a majority caused by the Delta variant. Sydney, home to a fifth of the country’s 25mn population, is half-way through a two-week lockdown to contain the outbreak, which has alarmed authorities amid a sluggish nationwide vaccination drive. “I think the vaccine will certainly reduce the disease, it will certainly reduce hospitalisation. But we’ll certainly have the virus circulating in the community for those people who aren’t vaccinated,” said professor Jill Carr, a virologist with the College of Medicine and Public Health at Flinders University. Australia, like several other countries in Asia, has struggled to inoculate people as initial successes in containing the pandemic led to vaccine hesitancy, and manufacturers were slow to ship doses. Australia has fully vaccinated only 6% of its population, while Japan has vaccinated 12%. Japan on Wednesday reported that the Delta variant now accounts for nearly a third of all cases in the eastern part of the country, including Tokyo, and that could grow to 50% by mid July. Tokyo and three neighbouring prefectures are among areas under a ‘quasi’ state of emergency set to run through July 11 and the recent uptick in infections has officials leaning towards keeping restrictions in place, government sources said. Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike yesterday reiterated that a ban on spectators for the Olympic Games, which start on July 23, would be an option if the coronavirus situation worsened. In South Korea, officials yesterday said daily coronavirus cases topped 800, the highest in nearly six months, with vaccination below 10%. The average number of new infections in the country has risen for 10 days straight, and authorities in Seoul have delayed relaxing social distancing measures. “The Delta variant is a strain that is most optimised for widespread transmissions,” said Chun Eun-mi, a respiratory disease specialist at Ewha Womans University Medical Center in Seoul. “The cases of Indonesia, India and Britain show that not just Korea but many other countries will need to rethink their vaccine strategy and reopening plans,” she said. Indonesia, the world’s fourth-most populous country, imposed emergency measures that begin today until July 20 to contain a spike in cases. In India, the number of new infections has eased to two-month lows since hitting a peak of 400,000 a day in May, with the government focusing on mass vaccinations. Australia cuts international arrival by 50% Australia yesterday announced a dramatic cut in the number of people who will be allowed to enter the country, as it struggles to contain coronavirus clusters that plunged major cities into lockdown. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said quotas for overseas arrivals would be cut by around 50% to help prevent further outbreaks. Under the current “zero Covid” strategy, just 6,000 people are allowed to enter Australia on overseas commercial flights each week and arrivals must undergo two weeks of hotel quarantine. That quota will be cut to around 3,000 by the middle of July, Morrison indicated, although the government will at the same time step up its private repatriation flights. Morrison announced the decision amid growing anger over repeated snap lockdowns, the leakiness of hotel quarantine facilities and what critics have dubbed a vaccine “stroll out”.

* Australia to cut arrivals from overseas to 3,000 a week * NSW reports 31 new cases, biggest daily rise for 2021 * Brisbane lockdown extended for another day Australia will halve the number of arrivals from overseas as its coronavirus hotel quarantine system creaks under pressure from outbreaks of the highly transmissible Delta variant, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday. The new restrictions on travel come as Australia fights outbreaks of the Delta variant simultaneously in three state capital cities, meaning nearly half of all Australians are currently under strict orders to stay at home. Most recent outbreaks have been traced to leaks in hotel quarantine. Australia shut its international borders early last year largely to non-citizens. Permanent residents and returning Australian travellers, except those exiting New Zealand, have to quarantine in hotels for two weeks at their own expense. Morrison said Australia will now only accept about 3,000 travellers from overseas per week. Lowering the cap will be finalised by July 14, he said, though some states can move earlier. Speaking after a meeting of the country's national cabinet, Morrison also said a four-phase plan had been agreed to reopen Australia after lockdowns triggered by the latest outbreaks. He said this would be based on achieving vaccination levels aimed at suppressing Covid-19 to a stage where it would be managed like other infectious diseases like the flu. ‘Our mind-set on managing Covid-19 has to change once you move from pre-vaccination to post-vaccination. That's the deal for Australians,’ Morrison told reporters in Canberra. The four-phased approach could give fully vaccinated people more freedoms, he said, including shorter quarantine period after arriving from overseas. New South Wales (NSW) capital Sydney, Australia's largest city and home to a fifth of the country's 25 million population, is half-way through a two-week lockdown imposed in a bid to contain the Delta variant. On Friday it warned residents to brace for an increase in Covid-19 infections over the next few days as it reported the biggest daily rise in locally acquired cases recorded so far this year. Thirty-one local cases were reported in NSW on Friday, so far the biggest daily rise in cases during the latest outbreak and for 2021. Total infections have grown to more than 200 since the first case was detected more than two weeks ago. ‘We are anticipating there could be an increase in numbers over the next few days, then hopefully early next week we should see the impact of the lockdown really turning and having a positive impact,’ NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters. Queensland officials said lockdown rules will be eased in parts of Queensland from Friday, although they have been extended in state capital Brisbane and a neighbouring region for another day after three new cases were reported. Lockdown in Darwin, the Northern Territory capital, will also be lifted on Friday. Restrictions in Perth will be reviewed later in the day. Lockdowns, swift contact tracing and tough social distancing rules have helped Australia to suppress prior outbreaks, but the fast-moving Delta strain has alarmed authorities amid a sluggish nationwide vaccination drive. The rollout, mired in confusion and frustration due to frequent changes in medical advice for the AstraZeneca vaccine, has become a flashpoint in relations between the federal government and state leaders.  

The town of Alice Springs, in the middle of Australia’s vast outback wilderness and gateway to Unesco World Heritage-listed Uluru, yesterday joined four major cities by locking down, to prevent a potential outbreak of the Delta coronavirus variant. In the past few days, Sydney, Perth, Brisbane and Darwin imposed lockdowns, though the number of cases recorded daily nationwide were still being counted in tens rather than hundreds. Around one in two Australians are now under stay-at-home orders, with millions of others subjected to movement curbs and mandatory mask-wearing amid flare-ups of the highly contagious strain in several locations. Yesterday the Covid scare reached the far-flung town of Alice Springs, as officials issued stay-at-home orders after a potentially infected traveller used the airport. Though less than 30,000 people live in Alice Springs, it is known by tourists around the world as the town they have to visit to reach the giant red sandstone monolith of Uluru, formerly known as Ayers Rock, that lies 335km to the southwest and is sacred to the Indigenous Australians. While Northern Territory (NT) recorded no cases of community transmission, the region’s officials opted for caution over the potential exposure at Alice Springs due to concerns about the potential impact on indigenous communities. “The reason we are doing this lockdown is the size of the exposure window and vulnerability of the local population. I will take no risk with that,” NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner said. With more than 5mn residents of greater Sydney under a two-week lockdown until July 9, New South Wales state reported 22 new locally transmitted Covid-19 cases yesterday, all linked to prior infections. That was up slightly from the previous two days, but below the peak of 30 new cases reported on Sunday. The state remains the worst-affected in the current outbreak that started two weeks ago when a limousine driver who transported overseas airline crew tested positive. Elsewhere, the northeast state of Queensland reported three new locally acquired cases, Western Australia state logged one, and South Australia reported its first locally transmitted cases this year. Officials in Queensland stopped short of imposing a full lockdown, saying they believed the threat was contained. Lockdowns, tough social distancing, swift contact tracing and a high community compliance have helped Australia quash prior outbreaks and keep its Covid-19 numbers relatively low.

* NSW total cases in latest outbreak top 170 * South Australia logs first local cases of 2021 * Sydney, Perth, Darwin, Brisbane, Alice Springs locked down * Singapore to put Australian travellers in home quarantine Australian officials extended lockdown and social distancing measures to more of the country on Wednesday, with four major cities already under a hard lockdown in a race to contain an outbreak of the highly contagious Delta coronavirus variant. Around one in two Australians are under stay-at-home orders, with millions of others subjected to movement curbs and mandatory mask-wearing amid Covid-19 flare-ups in several locations. With more than five million residents of greater Sydney under a two-week lockdown until July 9, New South Wales state reported 22 new locally transmitted Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, all linked to prior infections. That was up slightly from the previous two days, but still below the peak of the current outbreak of 30 new cases reported on Sunday. ‘New South Wales is demonstrating a steady rate of cases at this stage ... but to date our fears about huge escalation haven't materialised and we certainly want to keep it that way,’ state Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney. With a total of around 170 new locally transmitted cases since the first infection was detected two weeks ago in a limousine driver who transported overseas airline crew, NSW is the worst-affected state or territory in the current outbreak. Residents of Sydney, Perth, Brisbane and Darwin were joined in lockdown on Wednesday by those of the outback town of Alice Springs, the gateway to UNESCO World Heritage-listed Uluru. Officials issued stay-at-home orders for the town after a potentially infected traveller used the airport. South Australia, meanwhile, reported its first locally transmitted cases for 2021, but stopped short of imposing a full lockdown, saying they believed the threat was contained. Officials instead limited home gathering and urged people to wear masks in public after they reported five new cases - a miner who had returned home from a Northern Territory mine and his wife and children who had been in self-isolation. Elsewhere in the country, Queensland reported three new locally acquired cases, Western Australia logged one and the Northern Territory recorded none. Singapore on Wednesday said travellers from Australia will have to undergo home quarantine for a week from Friday. VACCINE WOES Lockdowns, tough social distancing, swift contact tracing and a high community compliance have helped Australia quash prior outbreaks and keep its Covid-19 numbers relatively low. It has reported just over 30,550 cases and 910 deaths since the pandemic began. But less than 5% of its 20 million adult population has been fully vaccinated, leading to criticism of a sluggish national inoculation drive. The federal government on Monday announced it would indemnify doctors who administer AstraZeneca's vaccine shots to people under 60, after previously preferencing Pfizer doses for that age group due to blood clot concerns. Two deaths have been linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine, a 52-year-old woman and a 48-year-old woman. However, Queensland state authorities said they would not endorse the move, saying it would unnecessarily put their younger population at risk. ‘I don't want an 18-year-old in Queensland dying from a clotting illness who, if they got COVID probably wouldn't die,’ Queensland state Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said in a media conference.    

Australia reported a slight rise in Covid infections yesterday, while officials in several states tightened movement curbs and pushed for vaccinations to limit flare-ups of the highly infectious Delta variant. After months in which it had nearly stamped out the virus, Australia is battling the variant in five of its eight states and territories, just two weeks after an infection in key city Sydney involving a limousine driver of overseas airline crew. Worries that the variant first detected in India could touch off outbreaks have forced lockdowns in three large cities and curbs of varying strictness in several more, affecting more than 20mn Australians, or about 80% of the population. Northern Queensland state imposed a three-day lockdown in capital Brisbane and neighbouring regions from yesterday evening. The Western Australian capital of Perth began a four-day lockdown yesterday, joining Sydney and Darwin. “The risk is real and we need to act quickly, we need to go hard, we need to go fast,” said Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said. The state reported two new local cases. Sydney, home to a fifth of Australia’s population, is in a two-week lockdown until July 9, while a stay-home order in the outback city of Darwin was extended by 72 hours to Friday. The Sydney outbreak has grown to nearly 150 cases. Mandatory masks and limits on gatherings are among the curbs across Australia. Police in the most populous state of New South Wales fined Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce A$200 ($150) for not wearing a mask inside a petrol station, media said. Joyce, the highest ranking government official to face such a fine, confirmed the incident in a media interview, saying he had gone unmasked to pay for petrol bought for his partner. Even under lockdown, New South Wales reported 19 new locally-acquired infections, up from 18 a day ago. Western Australia reported no new cases, despite going into lockdown, while the Northern Territory detected two. Monday’s decision to indemnify doctors who give the AstraZeneca vaccine to those younger than 60, a bid to kickstart a sluggish inoculation programme, provoked complaints from doctors who said the medical regulator still recommended the vaccine for those older than 60. “Phones are ringing off the hook at GP clinics,” Karen Price, president of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, said on Twitter.

* Treasurer says Australia facing 'critical time' * NSW warns cases could rise 'considerably' * Queensland, South Australia announce restrictions Australia's Covid-19 response committee is due to hold an emergency meeting on Monday as outbreaks of the highly contagious Delta variant across the country prompted a lockdown in Sydney and renewed restrictions elsewhere. More than 20 million Australians, or around 80% of the population, are now under some form of lockdown or Covid-related restrictions as officials grapple with Covid-19 flare-ups in almost every state or territory. ‘I think we are entering a new phase of this pandemic, with the more contagious Delta strain,’ federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg told the Australian Broadcasting Corp on Monday, adding Australia was facing a ‘critical time’ in its fight against Covid-19. The national security committee, chaired by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, would be briefed by the country's chief medical officer later on Monday, Frydenberg said. Sydney, Australia's most populous city and the capital of New South Wales (NSW) state, began a two-week lockdown over the weekend. Eighteen new local cases were reported in NSW on Monday, compared with 30 a day earlier, taking the total infections in the latest outbreak to 130 since the first case was detected nearly two weeks ago in a driver for overseas airline crew. ‘We have to be prepared for the numbers to bounce around and we have to be prepared for the numbers to go up considerably,’ NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney. ‘With this strain, we are seeing almost 100% transmission within households.’ An initial two-day lockdown in the northern city of Darwin, scheduled to end on Tuesday, was extended to Friday after the Delta variant of the virus was found in a fly-in, fly-out mine worker. Queensland and South Australia reintroduced mandatory masks and restricted home gatherings, following a similar move by Western Australian officials for state capital Perth. Restrictions remain in place in Victoria state capital Melbourne and national capital Canberra. Queensland reported two new locally acquired cases while Western Australia and Northern Territory detected one each. A health alert was issued over the weekend for hundreds of passengers after an infected Virgin Australia cabin crew member worked on five flights covering Brisbane, Melbourne and the Gold Coast. Australia has so far fared much better than many other developed countries in tackling the spread of the coronavirus, with just over 30,500 cases and 910 deaths. Lockdowns, tough social distancing rules and swift contact tracing have helped suppress prior outbreaks but the fast-moving Delta variant has alarmed authorities. NSW police fined 44 people for breaching stay-at-home orders, including a pair of naked sunbathers who became lost in a national park after being startled by a deer. ‘Not only did they require assistance from police to rescue them, they also both received a ticket for A$1,000 ($759),’ NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller told reporters.    

A skydiving instructor and their customer died Sunday after falling from a plane before a tandem jump in Australia. Police said two people died in the accident at Goulburn, about two hours' drive southwest of Sydney, after the aircraft began experiencing "difficulty". "Two parachutists fell from the aircraft and landed near the runway of the airport. They were located unresponsive and unable to be revived," police said in a statement. Scott Marshall, from Adrenaline Skydive Goulburn, told The Daily Telegraph newspaper it was a "horrible day" for all those impacted by the tragedy. "Sadly, a tandem master and passenger lost their lives. My heart goes out to their families," he said. The incident will be investigated by police and the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.

Australia's largest city entered a two-week lockdown on Saturday to contain a sudden Covid surge, but several European nations lifted restrictions despite the global spread of a highly contagious form of the disease. While vaccination drives have brought down infections in numerous -- mostly wealthy -- countries, the rise of the Delta variant which first emerged in India has stoked fears of new waves of a virus that has already killed nearly four million people. Sydney's normally bustling harbourside centre was nearly deserted after the lockdown took effect at midnight, a shock for a city that had returned to relative normality after months with very few cases. The new restrictions apply to some five million people across Sydney in addition to other nearby population centres. "The Delta variant is proving to be a very formidable foe," said Brad Hazzard, the health minister for New South Wales state. "No matter what defensive steps were taking at the moment, the virus seems to understand how to counter-attack." Globally, the pandemic is still slowing down, with the World Health Organization (WHO) reporting the lowest number of new cases worldwide since February and decreasing deaths attributed to the coronavirus. But concerns over the Delta variant have prompted new restrictions in countries that had previously managed to control their own outbreaks. "Globally there is currently a lot of concern about the Delta variant," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a Friday press conference. "Delta is the most transmissible of the variants identified so far, has been identified in at least 85 countries and is spreading rapidly among unvaccinated populations," he added. Spain nonetheless brought an end to mandatory outdoor mask wearing on Saturday, a year after the rule was first introduced in the wake of the devastating first wave of the virus through Europe. The decision came despite the announcement of a major coronavirus cluster in the capital Madrid, traced to an end-of-school-year student trip to the holiday island Mallorca, with more than 2,000 people ordered to self-isolate. The Netherlands ended its rules on outdoor mask wearing, also easing some restrictions on indoor dining and reopening discotheques to patrons who tested negative for Covid. Businesses were also allowed from Friday to broadcast the Euro 2020 football tournament, provided customers kept socially distanced. And Switzerland scrapped most of its remaining coronavirus restrictions on Saturday, after health minister Alain Berset said this week that the country's use of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines gave adequate protection against the Delta variant. But Delta is so contagious that experts say more than 80 percent of a population would need to be jabbed in order to contain it -- a challenging target even for nations with significant vaccination programmes. While several studies have shown that vaccines are slightly less effective against Delta, they are still highly effective -- but only after the second dose. Israel, which has one of the world's most successful vaccination campaigns, has seen infections linked to the variant surge since dropping a requirement to wear masks in enclosed public places 10 days ago -- a decision since After four days of more than 100 new cases a day -- including 227 on Thursday -- the health ministry reversed the decision. The head of Israel's pandemic response taskforce, Nachman Ash, said the rise in cases was not yet matched by a parallel rise in hospitalisations or deaths. While Africa has so far been spared the worst of the pandemic, infections are surging at an alarming rate in at least 12 countries. The Delta variant has been reported in 14 African countries, with unprecedented hospital admissions and fatalities pushing health facilities to the brink, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said. According to the WHO, about one percent of the continent's population is fully vaccinated, the lowest ratio globally.

Australia and Israel, which had been successful in fending off Covid-19, reimposed restrictions yesterday as cases surged of the highly contagious Delta variant, which is also threatening Africa, central Asia and southeast Asia. Large parts of Sydney entered lockdown, a shock for a population that had returned to relative normality after months with very few local cases, while vaccination success story Israel reimposed indoor mask-wearing less than two weeks after it lifted the measure. While vaccination campaigns have helped bring down infections in numerous — mostly wealthy — countries, the rise of the Delta variant which first emerged in India has stoked fears of new waves of a virus that has already killed nearly 3.9mn people. In Australia — among the most successful nations in containing the coronavirus after shutting its borders — around a million people in four eastern and central Sydney neighbourhoods were ordered to stay home for at least a week. Sixty-five infections have been linked to a driver infected about two weeks ago when he took a flight crew from Sydney airport to a quarantine hotel. It was a dramatic development for a city that had been largely enjoying a resumption of normal life. Bondi local Alana Trepper said “to be honest, I probably think that it should have happened a couple of days ago”. Israel, which has one of the world’s most successful vaccination campaigns, has seen infections surge since dropping a requirement to wear masks in enclosed public places 10 days ago. After four days of more than 100 new cases a day — including 227 on Thursday — the health ministry reversed the decision. The head of Israel’s pandemic response taskforce, Nachman Ash, said the rise in cases was not yet matched by a parallel rise in hospitalisations or deaths. Russia, Uzbekistan and Fiji have all recorded rising infections caused by the Delta variant. Indonesia, meanwhile, is battling a surge in highly infectious cases that have seen more than a dozen fully inoculated doctors die, a medical association in the southeast Asia nation of 270mn people said yesterday. Elsewhere, faltering or sluggish inoculation programmes and slow regulatory approval of new vaccines are a drag on efforts to reopen economies. Thousands of South African opposition activists rallied in Pretoria to demand regulators approve more vaccines and speed up the pace of inoculations to get people back to work and kickstart the economy. “Our agenda is simple, give our people vaccines, we want to open our economy,” said Julius Malema, leader of the leftist Economic Freedom Fighters. While Africa has so far been spared the worst of the pandemic, infections are surging at an alarming rate in at least 12 countries. Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention director John Nkengasong described the third wave hitting the continent as “extremely brutal” and “very devastating”. The Delta variant has been reported in 14 African countries, with unprecedented hospital admissions and fatalities pushing health facilities to the brink, the agency said. According to the WHO, about 1% of the continent’s population is fully vaccinated, the lowest ratio globally. WHO Africa director Matshidiso Moeti said cases were “outpacing vaccinations”.

* NSW reports biggest rise in cases in outbreak * Lockdown for a week from midnight Friday * New health alerts for venues scattered across Sydney * Australian doctors call for Sydney-wide lockdown   Downtown Sydney and the city's eastern suburbs, which include Bondi Beach, will go into a one week lockdown from midnight Friday as authorities struggle to contain a spike in the highly contagious Delta Covid-19 virus variant in the city. The Australian Medical Association (AMA), which represents doctors, said the move was not enough and called for a complete lockdown of the country's biggest city to prevent the virus spreading and causing possible deaths. People who live or have worked in the four local government council areas in Sydney in the last two weeks have been ordered to stay at home except for urgent reasons, New South Wales (NSW) state Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney. People are allowed to leave their homes only for essential work or education, medical reasons, grocery shopping or outdoor exercise. ‘We don't want to see this situation linger for weeks, we would like to see this situation end sooner rather than later,’ Berejiklian said. Authorities said they were ‘concerned’ about a potential super-spreader event in a salon where three staff were infected and over 900 clients visited between June 15 and 23. Officials have issued health alerts overnight for more than a dozen new venues scattered across Sydney, Australia's largest city and home to a fifth of Australia's 25 million population, as total infections in the outbreak topped 60. NSW has held off calls for a hard lockdown, instead imposing mandatory masks in all indoor locations in Sydney, including offices, restricted residents in seven council areas from leaving the city and limited home gatherings to five. These restrictions, which were scheduled to end on Wednesday, are now extended until midnight on July 2. Twenty-two local cases were reported on Friday, the biggest rise in infections since the first case was detected in Bondi last Wednesday in a limousine driver who transported an overseas airline crew. 19 of these cases are linked to known infections, while three are under investigation. AMA President Omar Khorshid said the latest restrictions were ‘not quite enough’ and urged officials to place the entire city under lockdown. Khorshid warned officials the latest Sydney outbreak could get out of control and reminded officials the devastating wave of Covid-19 in Melbourne last year, which resulted in more than 800 deaths. ‘What happened in Melbourne is they tried last year to get ahead slowly and were not able to get ahead of it and it resulted in deaths ... that must not be allowed to happen in Sydney,’ Khorshid said. Lockdowns, swift contact tracing, strict social distancing rules and a high community compliance have largely helped Australia quash prior outbreaks and keep its Covid-19 numbers relatively low, with just under 30,400 cases and 910 deaths. NSW has been effectively isolated from the rest of the country after other states reinstated tough border rules in response to the latest outbreak, including a total ban for visitors from Sydney's virus-hit suburbs. Neighbouring Queensland and Victoria authorities on Friday said several passengers from Sydney who attempted to enter the states by air without exemptions were sent back to Sydney. Queensland state Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said travelers moving between the cross-border zones with NSW must complete a travel declaration from Monday. Victoria reported no new local Covid-19 cases beyond the two announced on Thursday, likely linked to the Sydney outbreak. Two local cases were detected in Queensland overnight, both in home quarantine. A conference of Australian Banking Association in Sydney where Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Philip Lowe was due to speak next week has been postponed by the organisers due to COVID-related curbs.  

Australia's most populous state, New South Wales (NSW), reported a double digit rise in new locally acquired cases of Covid-19 for the third straight day as officials fight to contain an outbreak of the highly contagious Delta variant. "Since the pandemic has started, this is perhaps the scariest period that New South Wales is going through," state Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney. NSW has imposed tough restrictions in Sydney, Australia's largest city and home to a fifth of the country's 25 million population, with health officials saying transmission could be happening even through minimal contact with infected persons. NSW officials have so far resisted calls for a hard lockdown although Australia has a good record of successfully suppressing past outbreaks through snap lockdowns, tough social distancing rules and swift contact tracing. Australia has reported just under 30,400 cases and 910 deaths since the pandemic began. Berejiklian said despite the virus variant being very infectious, her government was "at this stage comfortable" with the current level of restrictions. Western Australia state premier Mark McGowan has urged NSW authorities to place the state in a lockdown to "crush and kill" the virus, warning "light touch" curbs could trigger a spike in infections. Western Australia has closed it border to NSW. NSW authorities have imposed mandatory masks in all indoor locations in Sydney, including offices, restricted residents in seven council areas in Sydney's east and inner west from leaving the city, and limited home gatherings to five to contain the state's first outbreak in more than a month. The state has been effectively isolated from the rest of the country after some states, like Western Australia, slammed their borders shut while others introduced tough border rules. Eleven new local cases were reported on Thursday, taking the total infections in the latest outbreak to more than 40. Thursday's data includes six cases detected after the 8 p.m. cut-off deadline, which will be included in Friday's tally. NSW state parliament on Thursday released a restricted list of politicians allowed into the chamber after state Agriculture Minister Adam Marshall tested positive for COVID-19 and Health Minister Brad Hazzard in isolation after he was deemed to be a possible close contact of a positive case. Victoria state, which shares its border with NSW, on Thursday reported its first case likely linked to the NSW outbreak after a man in his 60s tested positive after returning home from Sydney. It reported another case earlier in the day linked to an existing cluster. Queensland state reported three new local cases but officials said the infections pose low risk to the community as they were in isolation when they contracted the virus. Neighbouring New Zealand reported no new local cases on Thursday, a day after it raised the alert level in the capital Wellington over exposure concerns after an Australian tourist tested positive for COVID-19 upon returning to Sydney after a weekend visit. Wellington moved to a 'level 2' alert, or one short of a lockdown, until Sunday midnight as a precaution against any potential outbreak.

Australia said Tuesday it will strongly oppose a Unesco plan to list the Great Barrier Reef as "in danger" over deterioration caused by climate change. The UN body released a draft report on Monday recommending the reef's World Heritage status be downgraded because of its dramatic coral decline, after years of public threats to do so. Environmental campaigners said the decision highlighted Australia's lack of action to curb the carbon emissions which contribute to global warming. Environment Minister Sussan Ley said Australia would challenge the move, accusing UN officials of backflipping on their assurances ahead of the World Heritage Committee's 44th session in China next month, where the recommendation will be formally considered. "Politics have subverted a proper process and for the World Heritage Committee to not even foreshadow this listing is, I think, appalling," she told reporters in Canberra. The UN body did not consider the billions of dollars spent attempting to protect the world's largest coral reef, she added. The committee's draft report did commend Australia's efforts to improve reef quality and its financial commitment. But it noted "with the utmost concern and regret... that the long-term outlook for the ecosystem of the property has further deteriorated from poor to very poor," referring to Australia's move to downgrade the reef's health status after back-to-back mass bleaching events in 2016 and 2017. Ley said she had spoken to Unesco Director-General Audrey Azoulay overnight Monday to express "very clearly our strong disappointment, even bewilderment". Placement on the UN body's in-danger list is not considered a sanction. According to Unesco, some nations have their sites added to gain international attention and help to save them but it is seen as a dishonour by others. Australia has resisted calls to commit to a target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison saying the country hoped to reach carbon neutral "as soon as possible" without harming its commodity-dependent economy. The downgrade recommendation for the Great Barrier Reef prompted environmental groups to take aim at the Australian government's reluctance to take stronger climate action. The Climate Council said it brought "shame on the federal government, which is standing by as the reef declines rather than fighting to protect it". "The recommendation from Unesco is clear and unequivocal that the Australian government is not doing enough to protect our greatest natural asset, especially on climate change," said WWF head of oceans Richard Leck. Aside from its inestimable natural, scientific and environmental value, the 2,300-kilometre-long reef was worth an estimated US$4.8 billion a year in tourism revenue for the Australian economy before the coronavirus pandemic. In December, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said climate change had pushed the reef into critical condition. Australian Marine Conservation Society environmental consultant Imogen Zethoven said the Unesco report made clear that limiting global temperature rises to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels was critical for the Great Barrier Reef. "Australia's climate record is more consistent with a 2.5-3.0 Celsius rise in global average temperature -- a level that would destroy the Great Barrier Reef and all the world's coral reefs," she said. The Great Barrier Reef has now suffered three mass coral bleaching events in the past five years, losing half its corals since 1995 as ocean temperatures have climbed. Bleaching occurs when changes in ocean temperatures stress healthy corals, causing them to expel algae living in their tissues, which drains them of their vibrant colours and can lead to their death. It has also been battered by several cyclones as climate change drives more extreme weather and outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish -- which eat the coral -- in recent decades.

A climate change revolt in Australia's governing coalition on Monday brought in a new deputy prime minister likely to challenge the country's already hesitant moves to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Barnaby Joyce, best known internationally for threatening to euthanise Johnny Depp's dogs, defeated incumbent Michael McCormack in a snap internal party vote, elevating him to the role of deputy PM. The vote for the leadership of junior coalition partner the Nationals came as apparent cracks emerged in the ruling coalition over climate change policy. Prime Minister Scott Morrison told G7 leaders last week that Australia wants to achieve net-zero carbon emissions "as soon as possible", and preferably by 2050. McCormack had reportedly been accused by party colleagues of failing to push back against such accelerated climate action, a charged topic among the Nationals' rural conservative voters. On Monday, Joyce dodged questions on whether he would support Australia taking a net-zero by 2050 target to November's UN Climate Change Summit in Glasgow. But he echoed conservative talking points that strong climate change action posed a threat to Australia's commodity-dependent economy. "If the National Party room believes that the best deal for regional Australia is to make sure that we secure their jobs, is to make sure that we secure their industries... that's the view that I'll support," he told reporters in Canberra. Joyce previously held the Nationals' leadership but stepped down in a 2018 scandal when it was revealed the married father-of-four had an affair with a young adviser and she was pregnant. He was also accused of sexual harassment by a prominent rural woman but an internal investigation failed to reach a conclusive verdict. Joyce called the allegations "spurious and defamatory", adding that after three years on the backbench he hoped to "be a better person to do a better job". He gained international notoriety after threatening to put down Hollywood star Johnny Depp's two Yorkshire Terriers over a quarantine violation in 2015. Morrison congratulated Joyce on his elevated role, saying in a statement that they shared a "passion for ensuring our regions and rural communities thrive".

Websites of dozens of financial institutions and airlines in Australia and the US were briefly down yesterday, in the second major blackout in just over a week caused by a glitch in an important piece of Internet infrastructure. Server-related glitches at content delivery network (CDN) provider Akamai had disrupted services at Australian banks, while many US airlines, including American Airlines and Southwest Airlines, also reported an hour-long disruption. A similar outage at rival Fastly affected a number of popular websites last week. The impacted platform is now up and running, an Akamai spokesperson said, adding that the company was “continuing to validate services”. Akamai is one of the largest providers of CDN services, which are used by companies to speed up the delivery of data-heavy content, videos and games to web pages. Several US websites, which were hit by the outage, were back up yesterday. “Our website and other Internet-based tools are back up and running after a brief outage late Wednesday evening,” Southwest spokesperson said in a statement. “We are continuing to look into the root cause of the outage but it’s believed to be related to the broad Akamai outage.” American Airlines, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines were not immediately available for comment. In Australia, websites of the central bank, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Westpac Banking Corporation and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, had begun to come back online by late afternoon. Virgin Australia said it was “one of many organisations to experience an outage with the Akamai content delivery system,” though the situation was now resolved. Banks in New Zealand and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange also reported problems with their web platforms. It is the latest incident to draw attention to the stability of economically vital online platforms and the key role that a handful of mostly unknown companies play in keeping the web running. A series of high-profile hack-for-ransom attacks have also left corporations around the world jittery over cybersecurity risks, although there was no indication the latest problems were caused by malicious actors. Colonial Pipeline was briefly shuttered after an attack in May, and JBS, the world’s largest meat producer, was forced to stop operations in the US and Australia. Both firms reportedly paid ransoms to get operations back up and running. The issue of cybersecurity was at the top of the agenda when US President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin met in Geneva on Wednesday. Washington believes hackers who have extorted hundreds of millions of dollars from Western governments, companies, and organisations operate from Russian soil.

Australia will recommend only people over 60 receive AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine, the country's Minister for Health Greg Hunt said on Thursday, following a spate of blood clots in those who have received the inoculation. Australia has administered 3.3 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, and it has been linked to 60 cases of blood clots, the government has said. So far, two people have died, which Hunt said has driven the policy shift. ‘The government places safety above all else,’ Hunt told reporters in Canberra. ‘This updated advice received today is based on new evidence demonstrating a higher risk for the very rare (thrombocytopenia syndrome) condition in the 50-59 year-old age group.’ Australia in April moved to limit the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine to people over 50 years old. Several European Union member states have stopped administering the AstraZeneca vaccine to people below a certain age, usually ranging from 50 to 65, restricting its use to older people, due to very rare cases of blood clotting, mainly among young people. Hunt said the recommendation would not delay its inoculation timetable, which has a target of giving at least one Covid-19 vaccine dose to every Australian before the end of 2021. Australia in April expanded its order of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine to 40 million doses, while it has also ordered 25 million shots from Moderna . Australia's amended vaccine policy comes as the country's most populous state battles to contain a cluster of Covid-19 cases. New South Wales said it now recorded four local cases of Covid-19, with the source of the outbreak still unclear. ‘At this stage, we are all on high alert,’ NSW state Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney. A man in his 60s, who works as a driver for international airline crews, was detected with the virus on Wednesday, the state's first case in more than a month, and his wife has since tested positive. Genetic tests found the man has the Delta virus strain, officials said. The Delta variant, which has been classified by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as among the four Covid-19 variants of concern due to evidence that they spread more easily, likely caused the latest devastating outbreak in India. Nearly a dozen venues in Sydney including a cinema in a shopping centre in the popular tourist spot of Bondi and a supermarket have been listed as virus hotspots. Australia has successfully suppressed past outbreaks through snap lockdowns, swift contact tracing and tough social distancing rules. It has reported just under 30,300 cases and 910 deaths since the pandemic began.