Central Sydney locks down amid delta cases

Sydney, June 25: Parts of Sydney are going into a week-long lockdown starting at midnight on Friday as authorities in the Australian city battle an outbreak of cases of the variant nicknamed delta.

Downtown Sydney and the city's eastern suburbs, including Bondi Beach, will be put under lockdown and people will only be allowed to leave their homes for essential work or education, medical emergencies, grocery shopping or outdoor exercise. The city logged 22 new locally-transmitted cases on Friday.

The city — Australia's most populous — has detected at least 65 cases since noting the first delta variant case last week.

"We don't want to see this situation linger for weeks, we would like to see this situation end sooner rather than later," New South Wales (NSW) state Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney.

The Australian Medical Association has said that the lockdown in some areas was not enough and called for a total lockdown in Sydney to contain the spread of the virus and prevent possible deaths.

Australia and New Zealand have both kept caseloads very low by international standards, thanks in part to both their isolated geography and an aggressive approach to containment.

Here's the latest on coronavirus from across the globe:

Asia

Japan will give 1 million additional doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to both Taiwan and Vietnam, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said on Friday.

He said that the country was also working to send 1 million AstraZeneca doses each to Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.

A new study published on Friday has revealed that the first infections of COVID-19 in China could have spread as early as October 2019, contrary to the official record of the first case in the country in December 2019.

Americas

Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro said on Thursday that he did not pay for or receive any doses of the Indian coronavius vaccine developed by Bharat Biotech.

His statement came in response to allegations of irregularities in a deal that is currently being investigated by a special Senate committee and federal prosecutors.

The United States will provide Afghanistan with 3 million doses of Johnson & Johnson's vaccine to help tackle a COVID-19 spread triggered by the Delta variant, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said on Thursday.

The announcement comes ahead of President Joe Biden's meeting with Afghanistan's leaders at the White House on Friday and amid the withdrawal of NATO troops, mainly from the US, after two decades in the country.

Europe

Germany's Robert Koch Institute on Friday reported 774 new cases and 62 COVID-related deaths on Friday. The seven-day incidence rate sank further, to 6.2 cases per 100,000 people per week.

Source: DW