Lockdown extended in Melbourne to halt further spread of COVID-19

The lockdown of five million people in the Australian city of Melbourne has been extended for at least an additional week, according to what authorities announced Wednesday, as they struggle to stop the renewed spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The second-largest city in Australia imposed a sixth closure Aug. 5, after a focus of infections appeared in a school, linked to the most contagious Delta mutant.

Victoria State Premier Daniel Andrews announced that the closure measures in the state capital, Melbourne, would be extended until at least Aug. 19, after new cases were recorded on Tuesday night.

"There are a lot of cases whose source is not known... which prevents us from lifting the closure now," he said.

In Sydney, more than five million people have entered the seventh week of the confinement that will remain in place until the end of August.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic renewed about two months ago, more than 6,100 cases have been recorded in New South Wales.

A lockdown was also imposed on hundreds of thousands of people who reside in cities outside Sydney, especially Newcastle, Bayern Bay and Dubbo, after the emergence of the latest cases.

For 18 months, the Australian strategy to combat the virus, through a campaign of intensive examinations, tracing of contacts, quarantine and semi-closure of the borders, succeeded in stopping the epidemic.

But the emergence of the highly contagious Delta mutant appears to have changed the data as Australians are tired of frequent closures.

It seems that the authorities are counting on a new vaccination campaign, noting that lifting some restrictions may be possible if a sufficient number of people are vaccinated in the coming weeks.

Roughly 20 percent of Australians received two doses of the vaccine.

"If we maintain the current vaccination rate, we will reach six million vaccinated people by the end of August, which will allow us to think about giving the population more freedom in September and October," said New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian.

So far, the country has recorded about 37,000 cases of COVID-19 and 940 deaths from this disease, with a population of 25 million people.