Thousands of police, soldiers enforce Sydney’s lockdown
Sydney, Australia, Aug 16 (EFE).- About 18,000 police officials and 1,800 unarmed soldiers from Monday began monitoring compliance with lockdown measures in Australia’s most populated state, New South Wales (NSW), whose capital city, Sydney, is the epicenter of the current Covid-19 wave.
“Over the next 21 days, the New South Wales community needs to know that we are out there enforcing these health orders to stop the spread of the virus so we can come out of lockdown,” NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller warned on Monday.
Despite a lockdown in Sydney, which remains under confinement until Aug. 27, health authorities have pointed out to a surge in cases.
A total of 478 infections and 7 deaths were recorded on Monday.
New South Wales police put up roadblocks on the city’s major roads as part of the “Operation Stay at Home,” targeting areas in the southwest and west of Sydney that have the highest number of community transmissions of the coronavirus.
Those who violate the regulations imposed to contain the spread of Covid-19 can be fined up to AU$5,000 ($3,670).
Twenty-two new infections were reported on Monday in the state of Victoria, the second most populated in Australia, 19 in the Australian Capital Territory, which includes the country’s capital, Canberra, and one in the Northern Territory.
Amid the Covid-19 outbreak linked to the highly infectious Delta variant of the virus, Victoria’s government extended the confinement of the five million residents of its capital city, Melbourne, until Sep. 2 and strengthened measures by enforcing a nighttime curfew.
The Australian Capital Territory also extended its lockdown until Sep. 2, and the Northern Territory imposed a three-day lockdown on the some 137,000 residents of the cities of Darwin and Katherine.
Australia has recorded more than 39,000 Covid-10 cases, including 959 deaths, since the start of the pandemic.
So far, it has managed to fully vaccinate 25 percent of the target population. EFE
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