Australia announces new localized lockdowns to contain Covid-19
Sydney, Australia, Jun 29 (EFE).- Australian authorities on Tuesday announced a three-day lockdown in four areas of the northeastern state of Queensland to contain a Covid-19 outbreak linked to the highly contagious Delta variant, which has already led to strong measures being implemented in some regions of the country.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced the lockdown, which will remain in place until Friday, in Southeast Queensland, which includes the city of Brisbane, as well as the popular tourist destinations, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast.
The measure, which affects about 3.9 million residents, has also been imposed in the city of Townsville, Palm Island and Magnetic Island, according to Palaszczuk.
Since an outbreak was detected in the middle of the month in the city of Sydney, Australia’s most populated city and under lockdown until July 9, the authorities have been on alert and suspect that the Delta variant has spread to several parts of the country.
Although few new cases have been recorded, the regional administrations are vigilant as the variant is highly transmissible, according to experts.
The Covid-19 outbreak led the government of Western Australia to place the around 2.1 million inhabitants of the city of Perth and the neighboring Peel region under lockdown on Monday night.
On Monday, the government of the Northern Territory also extended until Friday the lockdown of the city of Darwin and two neighboring regions due to an increase in Covid-19 cases linked to a gold mine in the center of the country. The lockdown was scheduled to end on Tuesday.
These localized lockdowns affect a total of some 12.7 million inhabitants, of the country’s population of 25 million.
Since the start of the pandemic, Australia has recorded more than 30,500 cases, including 910 deaths, and has administered the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine to more than 7.3 million people, while 1.2 million have been fully vaccinated. EFE
wat/pd/tw
