Australia state declares emergency over Covid

Australia’s most populous state has declared a “national emergency” as it struggles to contain a record-breaking surge of the Delta variant of Covid-19 in Sydney amid a lockdown affecting half the country.  The New South Wales (NSW) state government reported one fatality and 136 new infections  with continued community transmission among essential workers, including in supermarkets and pharmacies, in the latest 24-hour period, the biggest daily tally of new cases since the outbreak began in mid June. State Premier Gladys Berejiklian called on the federal government to provide more vaccines for the worst-effected suburbs in Sydney's west and south.Sydney has been locked down for a month. The delta variant cluster has spread from Sydney to Victoria and South Australia states which are also locked down. Half Australia's population of 26 million is currently locked down. More than a year after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, NSW has broken records for daily case numbers on consecutive days, and Sydney is under the strictest lockdown measures it has ever experienced.
Only 15% of adult Australians are fully vaccinated. While there are ample supplies of locally-manufactured AstraZeneca, many are concerned about the slight risk of blood clots associated with that vaccine and a demanding Pfizer, the only alternative registered in Australia. More than 13 million Australians – approximately half the country’s population – are currently under some form of lockdown or restriction, including the states of Victoria and South Australia.

Australia, which was previously a world leader in the elimination of Covid, with strict border controls and months of zero community-acquired cases, has been plunged into various forms of lockdown sparked by cases of Delta variant. Meanwhile, New Zealand announced it would shut down quarantine-freetravel bubble with Australia for the next two months, saying that the NSW outbreak was “clearly not under control”.