SYDNEY (REUTERS) - Australia's Covid-19 response committee is due to hold an emergency meeting on Monday (June 28) as outbreaks of the highly contagious Delta variant across the country prompted a lockdown in Sydney and renewed restrictions elsewhere.
More than 20 million Australians, or around 80 per cent of the population, are now under some form of lockdown or Covid-related restrictions as officials grapple with Covid-19 flare-ups in almost every state or territory.
"I think we are entering a new phase of this pandemic, with the more contagious Delta strain," federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg told the Australian Broadcasting Corp on Monday, adding that Australia was facing a "critical time" in its fight against Covid-19.
The national security committee, chaired by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, will be briefed by the country's chief medical officer later on Monday, Mr Frydenberg said.
Sydney, Australia's most populous city and the capital of New South Wales (NSW) state, began a two-week lockdown over the weekend.
Eighteen new local cases were reported in New South Wales state on Monday, compared with 30 a day earlier, taking the total infections in the latest outbreak to 130 since the first case was detected nearly two weeks ago in a limousine driver who transported an overseas airline crew member.
"We have to be prepared for the numbers to bounce around and we have to be prepared for the numbers to go up considerably," Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters in the state capital Sydney. "With this strain, we are seeing almost 100 per cent transmission within households."
An initial two-day lockdown in the northern city of Darwin, scheduled to end on Tuesday, was extended to Friday after the Delta variant of the virus was found in a fly-in, fly-out mine worker.
Queensland and South Australia reintroduced mandatory masks and restricted home gatherings, following a similar move by Western Australian officials for state capital Perth.
Restrictions remain in place in Victoria state capital Melbourne and national capital Canberra.
A health alert was issued over the weekend for hundreds of passengers after an infected Virgin Australia cabin crew member worked on five different flights covering Brisbane, Melbourne and the Gold Coast.
Australia has so far fared much better than many other developed countries in tackling the spread of the coronavirus, with just over 30,450 cases and 910 deaths.
Lockdowns, tough social distancing rules and swift contact tracing have helped the country successfully suppress prior outbreaks but the fast-moving Delta variant has alarmed the health authorities.
NSW police fined 44 people for breaching stay-at-home orders, including a pair of naked sunbathers who became lost in a national park after being startled by a deer.
"Not only did they require assistance from police to rescue them, they also both received a ticket for A$1,000 (S$1,020)," NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller told reporters.
