Australia tightens lockdown amid Delta virus outbreak
Australia reported a slight rise in COVID-19 infections on Tuesday, while officials in several states tightened movement curbs and pushed for vaccinations to limit flare-ups of the highly infectious Delta variant.
By : migrator
Update: 2021-06-29 18:11 GMT
Sydney
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 20 million Australians, or about 80% of the population.
Northern Queensland state imposed a three-day lock-down in capital Brisbane and neighbouring regions from Tuesday evening. The Western Australian capital of Perth began a four-day lock-down from Tuesday, 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 lim-its on gatherings are among the curbs across Australia.
Australian Deputy PM fined for not wearing mask:
Australian Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has been fined A$200 ($151) for failing to wear a face mask inside a petrol station in New South Wales state. Joyce, also the leader of the National Party of Australia, confirmed the incident of breaching coronavirus restrictions.
“I went into the Caltex service station. I was going to the airport, fuelled the car up with fuel, went in, 30 seconds later, A$200 it cost me, because I didn’t wear one of these (masks),” he said on Tuesday.
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