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.
Three large Australian cities lock down in fight against Delta COVID-19 variant. (Reuters)
