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By Renju Jose and Colin Packham
Sydney (Reuters)-The Australian state of Queensland extended its COVID-19 lockdown on Brisbane on Monday, and soldiers began patrolling in Sydney to enforce stay-at-home rules as Australia is working to stop the highly contagious coronavirus The spread of the virus.
Queensland said it has detected 13 new local cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours-the largest single-day increase the state has recorded in a year. The blockade of Brisbane, Australia’s third largest city, was originally scheduled to end on Tuesday, but will now continue until late Sunday.
Queensland Deputy Governor Steven Myers told reporters in Brisbane: “It is clear that the initial blockade is not enough to deal with the epidemic.”
Queensland has not yet determined how schoolchildren contracted the virus, but has forced students and their families from several schools, including Australia’s Minister of Defense Peter Dutton, to stay at home.
Dutton said on Monday that he was told that he must be quarantined at home for 14 days because his two sons are attending an epidemic-related school, so he will be absent from parliament for two weeks.
The number of new cases in the country’s two largest cities is rising because people are increasingly uneasy about how the Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s government is responding to the epidemic.
Although Australia’s vaccination efforts lag behind many other advanced economies, it has so far performed much better in keeping the number of coronaviruses relatively low, with fewer than 34,400 cases. After a man in his 90s died in Sydney, the death toll rose to 925.
After the emergence of the rapidly spreading Delta virus strain, Australia is experiencing a stop-and-start cycle in several cities. This restriction may continue until the country reaches a higher vaccination coverage rate.
Prime Minister Morrison promised that once 70% of the country’s population over the age of 16 are vaccinated, the lockdown will be “unlikely”—up from the current 19%. Morrison expects to reach 70% by the end of this year.
At the same time, the blockade of Brisbane and several surrounding areas comes as the country’s largest city, Sydney, begins its sixth week of stay-at-home orders.
Sydney’s hometown of New South Wales said on Monday that 207 COVID-19 infections have been detected in the past 24 hours as new daily cases continue to linger near the 16-month high set late last week.
Since the outbreak in June, the state has recorded more than 3,500 infections when a limousine driver contracted the virus while transporting overseas crew members and had requested military personnel to assist in implementing restrictions.
On Monday, about 300 unarmed military personnel under the command of the police began door-to-door visits to ensure that those who tested positive were isolated at home. They also accompany the police on patrols in areas in Sydney where most COVID-19 cases have been recorded.
A video posted online showed that the police asked the few people they encountered why they ran away from home on largely empty streets in southwestern Sydney.
Brigadier General Mick Garraway, who led the military deployment, tried to downplay the army’s presence on the streets of Sydney.
Garaway told reporters in Sydney: “I want to say directly that we are not a law enforcement agency and this is not what we are going to do.”
He said the military will help deliver food and set up vaccination stations.
($1 = 1.3624 Australian dollars)
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