Next 2 days “critical” in Sydney’s struggle to quell Delta COVID outbreak

SYDNEY (Reuters), 5 July, 2021-Australian authorities trying to stamp out an outbreak in Sydney of the highly infectious Delta variant of COVID-19 said on Monday that the next two days would be “absolutely critical” in deciding whether to extend a stay-home order beyond July 9.

So far, at least 300 people have been infected since the first case was reported in the beachfront Bondi suburb of Australia’s largest city, on June 16.

The threat posed by the fast spreading Delta variant, in a country that has been slow to vaccinate, persuaded New South Wales state government to put Sydney, a city of five million people, under lockdown for two weeks.

But, on Monday it reported 35 locally acquired new cases, matching the worst daily figure for infections this year.
“We expect the case numbers of people in isolation to keep going up,” state Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters.