AMN / WEB DESK
Authorities in Sydney have ordered a shutdown of building sites, banned non-essential retail, and threatened fines for employers who make staff come into the office as new COVID-19 cases kept rising three weeks into a citywide lockdown.
Authorities in New South Wales state, of which Sydney is the capital, also banned hundreds of thousands of people in the city’s western suburbs – the worst affected area – from leaving their immediate neighbourhoods for work, as they recorded 111 new cases in the prior 24 hours, up from 97 the day before.
The state also recorded an additional death from the virus, taking the total to three since the start of the year and the national total to 913 since the pandemic began.
The city of 5 million people, Australia’s largest city has been under lockdown since June 26, with a planned end date of July 30, after an airport transit driver tested positive and sparked an outbreak of the highly infectious variant, according to the authorities.
More than 1,000 people in the city and surrounding districts have since tested positive. Of most concern to health leaders is the number of infectious people who are active in the community, which remained at 29 on Saturday, in line with previous days.
People who lived in three of Sydney’s local government districts – with a total population of 612,000 – were banned from leaving their district for work unless they were emergency workers. The city already has a working from home directive for businesses.
Neighbouring Victoria state also reported a jump in daily COVID-19 cases to 19, from six the previous day, raising fears it may extend a short lockdown that was scheduled to end on Tuesday.
Just over 10 per cent of Australia’s 25 million people are fully vaccinated, according to government data, a fraction of the rates in the United States and Britain.