Curfew imposed on parts of Australia's Sydney with lockdown extended one more month

SYDNEY, August 20: Australia's most populous state of New South Wales (NSW), the epicenter of the country's current COVID outbreak, announced Friday to extend the lockdown on Greater Sydney until the end of September and to impose a curfew on some areas of concern. For residents and businesses in the local government areas of concern, the curfew will be introduced from 9:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. local time except for authorized workers, emergencies or medical care from Monday, Aug. 23. Outdoor exercise will be limited to one hour per day. In Greater Sydney, mask-wearing will be mandatory when the residents are outside home, except when exercising, from Monday, Aug. 23. The current lockdown on Greater Sydney and surrounding areas, which is scheduled to end on Aug. 28, will be extended until the end of September. The announcement came after the state recorded 644 new locally acquired cases and four deaths in the past 24 hours to 8:00 p.m. Thursday local time. There have been 10,582 locally acquired cases reported in NSW since June. 16, when the first case in this outbreak was reported, accounting for roughly one-fourth of Australia's total COVID-19 cases since the initial outbreak early last year. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the tightened restrictions came as a response to two factors. "The first was the sudden escalation of cases, and secondly the feedback from police about a handful of people flagrantly disregarding the rules," she told the daily press conference on Friday. The government also announced some new restrictions around workplaces and authorized workers from the areas of concern, such as childcare workers and disability support workers who live or work in these areas must have their first vaccination dose by Aug. 30. Authorized workers who work outside these areas are only permitted to work if rapid antigen testing is implemented at their work-site or they have had their first vaccination dose by Aug. 30. Authorized workers from these areas and people entering these areas for the purposes of work have to carry a permit from Service NSW from Aug. 28.

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COVID-19 lockdown extended in Australian capital amid battle against 3rd wave

CANBERRA, Sept. 14 : The COVID-19 lockdown in Australia's capital city has been extended by a month as the country continues to battle the third wave of infections. Andrew Barr, chief minister of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), said on Tuesday that Canberra will remain in lockdown until Oct. 15. Restrictions were due to end on Friday after 36 days in lockdown but Barr said the risk to the community remained high. On Tuesday morning, Australia reported 1,595 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19. New South Wales (NSW), Australia's most populous state with Sydney as the capital city, reported 1,127 new cases and two deaths. "There have been 186 COVID-19 related deaths in NSW since June 16, 2021," said the statement from NSW Health. Victoria, the second-most populous state with Melbourne as the capital city, reported a further 445 new local cases. There were 22 new cases of COVID-19 reported in the ACT, only two of which were in quarantine for their entire infectious period. It takes the number of active cases in the national's capital to 252. The ongoing COVID-19 infections in the surrounding NSW area is one of the reasons for the extended lockdown in ACT, according to Barr. "New South Wales has been problematic for the nation throughout this process," Barr said. "Given we are a jurisdiction sitting wholly within that state, and we are seeing incursion of the virus outside of the Greater Sydney area." Under the current restrictions Canberrans are only allowed to leave home for six reasons: essential shopping, healthcare, essential work, outdoor exercise for a maximum of two hours per day, COVID-19 vaccinations and tests. So far about 68.5 percent of Australians aged 16 and older had received at least one vaccine dose and 43.2 percent were fully vaccinated, according to the Department of Health.

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Sydney lockdown extended, masks required outside

A lockdown in Australia’s largest city was extended throughout September and tougher measures to curb the coronavirus’s delta variant were imposed Friday, including a curfew and a mask mandate outdoors.

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Sydney records deadliest day of COVID-19 pandemic, Melbourne lockdown extended

Australia's biggest city of Sydney recorded its deadliest day of the COVID-19 pandemic on Monday as troops and police set up roadblocks to limit the movement of people, while Melbourne faced a nightly curfew and a further two weeks of lockdown.

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