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© Reuters. On July 8, 2021, in Sydney, Australia, a woman wearing a protective mask walks along a coastal path during the lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak. REUTERS/Loren Elliott
By Renju Jose and Byron Kaye
Sydney (Reuters)-Australian authorities pleaded with Sydney residents to stay at home on Friday, warning that the three-week lockdown may be extended due to their efforts to contain the COVID-19 outbreak. The city reported the largest increase in local cases. year.
Hundreds of additional police officers patrolled parts of Sydney to enforce the city’s lockdown order to contain the outbreak of the highly contagious delta virus, which now has more than 400 cases.
“New South Wales (state) is facing the biggest challenge we have faced since the beginning of the pandemic,” Governor Gladys Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney. “Currently the numbers are not moving in the right direction.”
“Please don’t leave your home. Don’t leave your home unless you absolutely have to,” Berejiklian said.
On Friday, Australia’s most populous state, New South Wales, reported 44 local infections, which is more than 38 a day earlier, 29 of which had been in the community at the time of infection. Currently there are 43 hospitalized patients and 10 people in intensive care, 4 of whom need ventilation.
Despite the lockdown for two weeks, it has now been extended to the third week ending on July 16, but the number of cases is still increasing.
Authorities will tighten restrictions in Sydney starting Friday night. Public gatherings will be limited to two people and residents will be limited to within 10 kilometers (6 miles) of their homes.
Berejiklian also dismissed reports that the government is considering shifting its policy toward “coexistence with the virus” on the grounds that Australia has low vaccine coverage.
“If we choose to endure this with a 9% vaccination rate, we will see thousands of hospitalizations and deaths,” Berejiklian said.
Although Australia’s performance in keeping the number of COVID-19 relatively low is much better than many other developed countries, due to supply constraints and changing medical recommendations for its main AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:) vaccine, its The introduction of vaccination has been the slowest.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Pfizer (New York Stock Exchange:) From July 19, the delivery of COVID-19 vaccine will be increased to approximately 1 million doses per week, which will more than triple current shipments, as Sydney is dealing with the worst epidemic.
“We have encountered challenges in the course of the past four months, but we are now meeting these (vaccination rates) standards,” Morrison told broadcaster Nine News.
Pfizer said that the total number of 40 million doses of drugs it signed for delivery to Australia in 2021 has not changed. Morrison said Pfizer will deliver the vaccine to Australia from September to August.
Jamal Rifi, a general practitioner from Western Sydney, the epicenter of the current epidemic, said that many residents misunderstood the risk of delta mutation, but as the infection rate rose, they gradually realized this.
Liffey said: “Many members of the local community have been identified as infected with the virus, and many relatives are in hospitals and even intensive care units.”
“This news has spread in the community, and I think you will see more people now restrict their actions and take this Delta variant more seriously.”
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