In the Australian state of New South Wales with the metropolis of Sydney, the corona numbers continue to rise despite a lockdown that has lasted for almost seven weeks.
The health authorities announced on Friday that 390 new infections were recorded within 24 hours, more than ever since the beginning of the pandemic.
Two people died in connection with Covid-19, said regional head of government Gladys Berejiklian.
The metropolis of Sydney and large parts of New South Wales have been in lockdown since the end of June.
People are only allowed to leave their homes in exceptional cases.
The measures should apply until at least the end of August.
Population restrictions are also currently in place in Melbourne and the capital, Canberra.
However, no other part of the country is as badly affected as New South Wales.
Australia with its 25 million inhabitants has long been very successful in the fight against the pandemic due to extremely strict rules.
Due to the spread of the delta variant, however, the cases are now increasing.
In Australia, just 19 percent of the population is fully vaccinated.
In total, around 37,000 cases have been confirmed since the pandemic began.
More than 940 people have died related to the virus.
The national borders have been closed since March 2020.
In the Australian capital Canberra, where a corona case was last discovered, the local government reacted promptly and imposed a one-week quick lockdown.
The residents are only allowed to leave the house for essential errands.
The new measures came into force on Thursday at 5 p.m. local time.
It is the first curfew in the capital area since the early stages of the pandemic.
As then, there were panic buying on Thursday.
New Zealand wants to reopen borders in 2022
New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on Thursday that New Zealand would gradually reopen its borders in the coming year.
The strict border controls are to be maintained until the end of the year.
The changes in 2022 would then be made "cautiously and deliberately" to prevent coronavirus variants such as the highly contagious Delta variant from entering New Zealand.
New Zealand is seen worldwide as a role model in the fight against the corona pandemic.
In the country of five million people, there have been only 26 deaths from Covid-19 since the pandemic began.
However, the vaccination campaign is slow, less than 20 percent of the population has been fully vaccinated so far.
According to Ardern, all people in New Zealand should be offered a vaccination by the end of the year, thus enabling border controls to be relaxed. New Zealand has largely closed its borders because of the pandemic. A travel corridor was set up with Australia, but was suspended again in June due to several virus outbreaks in the neighboring country.