'Scary' Sydney virus cluster blamed on delta variant grows

An Australian state leader says Sydney is going through one the “scariest” times of the pandemic as a cluster of the highly contagious delta variant infects more people

SYDNEY -- Sydney was going through one the “scariest” times of the pandemic as a cluster of the highly contagious delta variant infects more people, an Australian state leader said on Thursday. New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said she tested negative for the coronavirus after her Agriculture Minister Adam Marshall tested positive Thursday. Health Minister Brad Hazzard is self-isolating as a close contact of a suspected COVID-19 case in Parliament House. Sydney tightened pandemic restrictions on Wednesday, but Berejiklian said Australia’s largest city did not yet need to lock down further. “Since the pandemic has started, this is perhaps the scariest period that New South Wales is going through,” Berejiklian told reporters.