Sydney lockdown extended amid COVID-19 outbreak

Sydney is extending its coronavirus lockdown for the second time as Australia is battling with an outbreak of the virus. 

Residents are only allowed to go out for essential activities until July 30, Reuters reported. 

“It always hurts to say this, but we need to extend the lockdown at least a further two weeks,” New South Wales state Premier Gladys Berejiklian said Wednesday.

“We want to get out of this lockdown as soon as we can and that is why we have the settings in place that we have,” Berejiklian added.

There are currently 900 coronavirus cases reported in the city, with two deaths. The deaths were the country’s first from the virus this year.

The city plans to stay in lockdown until the number of infections is close to zero as Australia has had lower infections and deaths than most other developed countries, according to Reuters. 

The outbreak in Sydney has caused more than 70 people to go to the hospital and led to multiple cases in other parts of the country.

Spikes in coronavirus cases have been seen in countries across the world with the highly contagious delta variant traveling quickly.

Although Australia has been successful in keeping its coronavirus case numbers low, the country has struggled with its vaccine rollout.

Less than 10 percent of Australia is fully vaccinated, further hindering its fight against the new outbreak.