In Sydney, Covid epidemic continues to spread, record number of cases

Sydney on Tuesday August 10 recorded a record number of Covid-19 cases as the city desperately tries to contain the epidemic.

Read also: In Sydney, the controversial use of the army to enforce containment

The State of New South Wales has recorded 356 new infections, a record since an epidemic resurgence in mid-June due to the Delta variant.

In Sydney, the country's largest city, more than 5 million residents have entered their seventh week of confinement.

Since the new outbreak of the epidemic almost two months ago, 5,805 cases and 32 deaths have been recorded in New South Wales.

"

" said Prime Minister Gladys Berejiklian.

Only 20% of Australians vaccinated

The coastal town of Byron Bay is the latest to be confined, after the regions around Newcastle and Tamworth, whose residents are required to stay at home for a week after an infected Sydney resident be returned to these two cities.

In Melbourne, the country's second city, five million people are confined for the sixth time since the start of the epidemic after the appearance of a hotbed of contamination last week.

For nearly 18 months, Australia's drastic strategy to fight the virus, via an intense screening and tracing campaign, containments and a virtual closure of its borders, has borne fruit.

But the highly contagious Delta variant seems to undermine the “

”

as Australians are tired of these repeated

.

Read also: Australia: confinement in Sydney extended by one month

Just over 20% of Australians have received two doses of the vaccine, due to supply issues and widespread public mistrust. The Conservative government made a commitment to solve these problems starting in September. Prime Minister Scott Morrison acknowledged that the country was waging an "uphill

" against the Delta variant while wishing "

". The country has so far recorded around 37,000 cases of Covid-19 and 940 deaths linked to this disease in a population of 25 million.