Sydney Braces For Extended Lockdown Amid Covid Outbreak

Total infections in the outbreak, which began in mid-June, are nearing 600. Almost 50 people have been hospitalised, a rate of one in eight of those infected.

Australia on Monday reported its biggest daily rise in COVID-19 cases this year, fuelled by a fast-growing outbreak of the Delta variant in Sydney despite the country's biggest city entering its third week of lockdown. New South Wales state reported 112 new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, almost all of them in Sydney, marking the fifth consecutive day of record case numbers. There was, however, a glimmer of light as the number of newly-infected people who were out in the community while infectious dropped to 34, down from 45 on Sunday. State Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the progress of that figure in coming days would determine whether Sydney's lockdown, due to end on Friday, would be extended.