Australia’s capital goes into snap lockdown

CANBERRA AFP Aug12, 2021 - Australia’s capital Canberra was ordered into a seven-day lockdown Thursday, after a single Covid-19 case was detected in the city that has largely avoided virus restrictions.   

About 400,000 people in the nation’s political hub will be under stay-at-home orders from 5:00 pm local time, joining millions more already under lockdown in Australia’s southeast.   

 “This is the most serious public health risk that we are faced in the territory this year, since the beginning of the pandemic,” Australian Capital Territory Chief Minister Andrew Barr said.   

More than 10 million people in the country’s biggest cities, Melbourne and Sydney, are currently in lockdown as authorities try to bring case numbers down.   

Much of western New South Wales state was also placed under lockdown late Wednesday.   

In Sydney, the epicentre of the outbreak, almost 6,500 cases and 36 deaths have been recorded since a cluster emerged in mid-June.