Sydney begins two weeks of confinement today after more than 80 cases of Covid-19 related to the contagious Delta variant have been recorded in the largest Australian city. The infection originated from the crew of a plane being transported from the airport to a hotel for quarantine.
The new cases took Sydney by surprise, who had returned to normal after months of very few cases. Over five million citizens and hundreds of thousands of residents in the coastal district will have to stay at home and will only be able to go out to buy essential goods, get medical care, exercise, go to school or go to work if they cannot carry out their occupation by remote.
“The Delta variant is proving to be a truly formidable enemy,” South Wales State Health Minister Brad Hazzard explained to reporters, “no matter what defensive measures we take, the virus seems to understand how to fight back.” Australia is one of the countries in the world that has been most successful in containing the pandemic, with 910 deaths and less than 30,000 cases in a population of 25 million people.