MELBOURNE, Australia (AFP) — Five million people in Australia’s second-largest city will remain under stay-at-home orders for at least another week after authorities extended a lockdown Wednesday after failing to curb Melbourne’s latest Covid outbreak. The city entered its sixth pandemic lockdown last Thursday after a fresh Delta variant cluster emerged at a Melbourne school and quickly spread. Daniel Andrews, the premier of the state of Victoria, said lockdown rules will be extended until at […]

SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australia’s state of New South Wales reported another record day of Covid-19 cases Saturday, as authorities in the country’s second city of Melbourne rushed to trace the source of its outbreaks. Australia’s three largest cities were in lockdown on Saturday, as New South Wales recorded 319 community cases of the virus and five more deaths — a third straight day of record case numbers. With the virus continuing to spread through […]

by Andrew BEATTY SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australia’s coveted status as a haven from the pandemic could be at an end, with experts warning that a sustained Delta outbreak makes a return to “Covid zero” unlikely. After long stretches with zero local cases — what Australians once jokingly referred to as “doughnut days” — a Sydney outbreak has now grown to 4,610. Record numbers of new cases are being reported each day despite widespread lockdowns. […]

SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Troops hit Sydney’s streets on Monday to help enforce its prolonged lockdown, as stay-at-home orders in Australia’s third-largest city Brisbane were extended to curb a worsening outbreak. About 300 Australian Defence Force personnel will be deployed to the country’s largest city after New South Wales state police requested military help to enforce Covid-19 rules. Authorities have been struggling to stop the spread of the highly infectious Delta variant in Sydney — […]