Sharjah24 – Reuters: Australia's Victoria state said on Tuesday it will lift a strict lockdown after curtailing the spread of COVID-19, while neighbouring New South Wales faces an extension of restrictions after daily new cases spiked to a 16-month peak.
More than half of Australia's near 26 million population has been in lockdown in recent weeks after an outbreak of the highly infectious Delta variant took hold in the New South Wales capital of Sydney and spread to three states.
New South Wales reported 172 COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, up from 145 a day earlier, with at least 60 spending time in the community while infectious.
New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said a decision whether to extend the five-week lockdown will be taken this week. But with less than 13% of the state's population fully vaccinated, curbs are expected to remain.
In contrast, Victoria state said most restrictions imposed on July 15 will be removed from Wednesday after recording just 10 infections of people already in quarantine.
"All in all, this is a good day," Victoria state Premier Daniel Andrews told reporters in Melbourne.
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