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 Tamworth, a farming town 414 km (257 miles) northwest of Sydney, and
Byron Bay, a tourist spot about 770 km north of Sydney, will both
enter a seven-day lockdown, New South Wales Premier Gladys
Berejiklian said.
Neither Tamworth nor Byron Bay has yet recorded a COVID-19 case, but
Berejiklian said two infected people had contravened travel bans and
travelled there.
"As a precaution, the health experts have recommended we lock down
Tamworth for one week," Berejiklian told reporters.
New South Wales reported 283 locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in
the past 24 hours, up from 262 cases a day earlier.
The state has struggled to contain a surge of the highly infectious
Delta variant despite a lockdown of Sydney now in its seventh week.
Neighbouring Victoria state said it would ease restrictions after
reporting 11 new COVID-19 cases, the same as the previous day.
The majority of the new cases in Victoria spent time in the
community while infectious but state Premier Daniel Andrews said the
lockdown of areas outside the state capital of Melbourne would be
lifted on Monday.
Melbourne would remain in lockdown - for the sixth time since the
pandemic begun - until at least Aug. 12.
In Brisbane, capital of Queensland, authorities reported four new
local cases on Monday, the first day after the city came out of
stay-at-home restrictions.
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Prime Minister Scott Morrison is under fire for
a sluggish vaccine rollout, with only 22% of
Australians above 16 fully vaccinated.
An opinion poll by the Australian newspaper
showed his public approval rating had hit its
lowest since the pandemic began.
Morrison acknowledged mounting frustrations but
urged people to be patient.
"I know they're sick of it, I know they're angry
and I know they want it to stop and for life to
get back to where they knew it," Morrison told
reporters in Canberra.
"But there can be no short cuts."
Australia has reported about 36,250 cases and
939 deaths, including a woman in her 90s whose
death in Sydney was reported on Monday.
Morrison has said all Australians over 16 will
be offered a vaccine by the end of the year,
with prospects for achieving that boosted on
Monday when the pharmaceutical regulator gave
provisional approval for the Moderna shot.
(Reporting by Colin Packham in Canberra,
additional reporting by Renju Jose in Sydney and
Praveen Menon in Wellington; Editing by Stephen
Coates, Robert Birsel and Nick Macfie)
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