SYDNEY – The leader of Australia’s New South Wales state on Wednesday ordered a week-long extension of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdown here, warning new cases are bound to rise as the country’s biggest city grapples with the highly-infectious Delta variant.
Sydney was plunged into lockdown on June 26 as a Delta variant outbreak persuaded officials to tighten restrictions. Strict stay-at-home orders were due to end on Friday, but now remain in place until July 16.
With Sydney fighting its worst outbreak of the year so far, total infections have topped 350 since the first case was detected three weeks ago.
A total of 27 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 were reported on Wednesday in NSW, up from 18 a day earlier.
Health officials warned residents that they expect cases to rise in the next 24 hours and urged residents in three western suburbs – Fairfield, Canterbury-Bankstown, and Liverpool – to stay at home.(Reuters)
