Sydney lockdown extended by month as Covid cases rise

Sydney, Australia, Jul 28 (EFE).- The Australian authorities on Wednesday extended the lockdown of Greater Sydney by four weeks as they struggle to contain the spread of its Covid-19 outbreak.

Despite the strict measure, which began on June 26 and is now scheduled to end on Aug. 28 and affects almost a quarter of the 25 million population of the country, daily cases in New South Wales have remained above 100 for a week.

On Wednesday, health authorities reported 177 new infections and one death, bringing the total to more than 2,400 local cases and 11 deaths since the Delta-linked outbreak was detected in Sydney in mid-June.

During a press conference, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian highlighted the high number of people carrying the virus in the community while infectious.

The state leader also announced a tightening of travel restrictions, especially in western Sydney where most cases are currently recorded, although she made some concessions, including to students in their final year of high school.

While Sydney remains confined, on Wednesday the states of South Australia and Victoria, the second most populous in the country, came out of lockdown, although they maintained some social restrictions.

Australia, which implements a strict and rapid policy of lockdowns on detecting outbreaks of the virus, has accumulated more than 33,300 infections and 921 deaths since the start of the pandemic, and has fully vaccinated 16 percent of the population aged 16 and over with the full schedule. EFE

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