Sydney will face a long blockade of COVID-19 by Reuters among the record 2021 cases

By Renju Jose

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian authorities called on Sydney residents to stay home on Friday, warning that a three-week closure could be extended as they struggle to control the COVID-19 explosion, citing the city’s biggest rise in local cases this year.

Hundreds of extra police patrolled several parts of Sydney to enforce city blockade orders to establish the outbreak of the highly infectious Delta variant, which now has more than 400 cases.

“This is the biggest challenge we have had since the New South Wales (state) pandemic began,” state Prime Minister Gladys Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney. “The numbers are not in the right direction at the moment.”

“Please don’t leave your house. Don’t leave your house if you absolutely don’t need it,” Berejiklian said.

Forty-four locally acquired cases on Friday were reported in NSW, Australia’s most populous state, eclipsing 38 days earlier, and 29 were infected in the community over time. There are currently 43 cases in the hospital, and 10 people are in intensive care, four of whom need ventilation.

Although the rise in cases has been a two-week closure, it has now been extended to the third week, which ends on July 16.

Authorities will tighten restrictions in Sydney from Friday afternoon with public gatherings for two people and residents less than 10 kilometers (6 miles) from home.

Berejiklian rejected any suggestion of “living with the virus” given the low coverage of Australian vaccines.

“If we choose to live with this while vaccination rates are 9%, we will see thousands and thousands of hospitalizations and deaths,” Berejiklian said.

Although Australia has fared much better than many other developed countries in keeping COVID-19 numbers relatively low, vaccine deployment has been one of the slowest due to supply cuts, and the change in medical advice on the AstraZeneca (NASDAQ 🙂 master plan.

On Friday, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Pfizer Delivery of the COVID-19 vaccine will increase by about a million doses per week from July 19, more than tripling shipments, as Sydney is facing the worst outbreak this year.

The 4.5 million doses that would arrive in September from Pfizer Inc (NYSE 🙂 will be available next month, Morrison said.

“So that’s getting worse … and so we’re playing brands now. I know we’ve had challenges over the last four months, but we’re playing those brands now,” Morrison told Nine News.