New South Wales, Australia’s second-largest state, reported another record day of Covid-19 cases on Saturday, as authorities in Melbourne, the country’s second-largest metropolis, raced to find the source of the outbreaks.
On Saturday, the three largest cities in Australia were put on lockdown after New South Wales reported 319 community cases of the virus and five more deaths, marking the third consecutive day of record case numbers.
Despite the city’s sixth week under lockdown, the virus continues to spread over Sydney’s sprawling suburbs, and state Health Minister Brad Hazzard voiced frustration that people appeared to be ignoring regulations and advised citizens to stay at home.
“That is the most important thing you can do for all of us and for yourself,” Hazzard told the media.
He also stated that the city of Armidale, some six hours northwest of Sydney, would join the roughly 60% of Australia’s 25 million citizens who have already been ordered to stay at home.
Contact tracers in Melbourne’s state of Victoria, which was put on lockdown for the sixth time since the epidemic began on Thursday, were still trying to figure out where the breakouts were coming from.
“To see this many case is extremely, very serious… we don’t know where those two outbreaks started,” state Premier Daniel Andrews said after reporting 29 new cases of the virus.
When the city of Brisbane prepares to lift its lockdown on Sunday, health officials warned residents not to become complacent as the restrictions are eased.
Efforts to immunize Australians have been slowed by a paucity of supplies and pockets of vaccine hesitancy, with only about 20% of the population fully vaccinated.
For the past 18 months, the country has avoided the worst of the pandemic, but the success of its “Covid zero” strategy has been questioned as lockdowns fail to eradicate the extremely infectious Delta form.
