Australian authorities have announced a sixth containment of Melbourne as Sydney reported a record number of new cases of coronavirus, the huge island-continent trying to stem an epidemic resurgence linked to the Delta variant.

The Prime Minister of the State of Victoria (south-east), Dan Andrews, admitted having "no other choice" than to resolve to "announce" the containment of Melbourne and the state surrounding the second largest city in the country, more than a week after the lifting of a similar measure.

“None of us are happy to be here, none of us,” he said, citing the risk posed by eight “mysterious” cases, the origin of the contamination of which was not could not be identified. “There is no alternative to confinement,” he added. “The alternative is we let this elusive race go, and our hospitals will be absolutely overwhelmed. Not by hundreds of patients, but by thousands ”. When the state of Victoria lockdown goes into effect at 8 p.m., more than half of Australia's 25 million people will be re-confined.

On Thursday, the number of new infections in the state of New South Wales (south-east) reached 262, the highest figure since the start of the pandemic.

Health authorities have said that almost all of the new cases have been identified in Sydney but contaminations have been recorded in other districts, leading the Prime Minister of the State, Gladys Berejiklian, to geographically extend the containment measures.

20% of Australians fully vaccinated

Five people have tested positive in Newcastle, a city of 320,000 people on the coast north of Sydney, prompting authorities to close schools and order confinement of at least a week. Five people between the ages of 60 and 80 have died in Sydney in the past 24 hours. None of them were fully vaccinated. “I cannot stress enough how important it is for everyone, regardless of age, to be vaccinated,” said Gladys Berejiklian.

Barely 20% of Australians have received two doses of the vaccine, due to supply problems and great mistrust among the population. Australia has so far been relatively spared from the pandemic thanks to the closure of its borders, a mandatory quarantine of travelers from abroad and an intense policy of screening and identification of contact cases. But since the end of June, the island-continent has struggled to curb the spread of the Delta variant, which is much more contagious.

The Sydney outbreak presumably started from an unvaccinated driver who was caring for airline crews and who tested positive in mid-June.

Since then, New South Wales has recorded 4,319 locally acquired cases and numerous outbreaks have appeared across the country.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has pledged to speed up vaccine deliveries by the end of the year, while stressing the need for cities to lock down to contain the spread.

“The virus does not move on its own.

People who stay at home make sure the virus does not move, ”he said Thursday.

World

Coronavirus in Australia: Clashes with police during anti-containment protests in Sydney

High-Tech

Coronavirus: YouTube suspends Sky News Australia channel for a week for false information

  • Confinement

  • Sydney

  • World

  • Covid 19

  • Australia

  • Delta variant

  • Coronavirus