Australia Covid-19 Lockdowns

New Zealand police caught two men trying to smuggle KFC takeaway, while New Zealand faces a strict lockdown due to a rise in COVID-19 cases.

Queensland, Australia's third most populous state, said on Sunday it does not need to order a lockdown after it detected zero COVID-19 infections in the past 24 hours.

Australian authorities on Wednesday extended the COVID-19 lockdown in Melbourne for another three weeks, as they shift their focus to rapid vaccination drives and move away from a suppression strategy to bring cases down to zero.

Australia's Canberra on Tuesday extended its hard lockdown by a further two weeks as the capital city struggles to contain a surge in the highly infectious Delta variant.

As Australia's COVID-19 deaths exceed 1,000, a grim toll but modest by global standards, a country that has used relentless lockdowns now faces perhaps its biggest health policy challenge of the pandemic - how to reopen.

Australian police on Monday criticised a Sydney church for flouting the city's Covid-19 lockdown by holding a service for 60 people in a pandemic hotspot.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Monday the country must begin to ease strict COVID-19 restrictions once vaccination rates increase, with over half of all Australians enduring weeks-long lockdowns to curb Delta outbreaks.

Sydney's two-month long lockdown will be extended until at least the end of September and masks will need to be worn outside as the Covid-19 delta variant outbreak in Australia's most populous city worsens.

New Zealand began a strict nationwide lockdown as it faces an outbreak of the delta variant, which on Wednesday was linked to the worsening Covid-19 crisis in neighboring Australia as cases in New South Wales rose to a record high of more than 600.

Australia's biggest city of Sydney recorded its deadliest day of the COVID-19 pandemic on Monday, while residents in Melbourne face a nightly curfew and a further two weeks of lockdown amid a surge in infections.

Hundreds of unarmed defence personnel joined thousands of extra police to set up roadblocks and enforce COVID-19 lockdown rules in parts of Sydney on Monday, while dozens of new venues were added to a list of exposure sites in Melbourne.

The spread of the delta variant of the coronavirus from Sydney into regional areas of New South Wales state -- which had 344 cases on Wednesday -- has forced another Australian city into lockdown.

Australian authorities on Tuesday vowed to crank up policing of anti-COVID lockdown rules in Sydney, but dismissed suggestions that tougher measures, including a curfew, were needed after the city reported its biggest single-day new case number yet.

Australia expanded a COVID-19 lockdown to a rural town and the coastal region of Byron Bay on Monday, as fears grew that the virus has spread from Sydney to the northern tip of the country's most populous state.

Australia's Victoria state reported six locally acquired cases of COVID-19 on Friday, the first day of a snap one-week lockdown as officials rush to trace the source of several unlinked new infections detected in Melbourne, the state capital.

New Zealand police caught two men trying to smuggle KFC takeaway, while New Zealand faces a strict lockdown due to a rise in COVID-19 cases.

Queensland, Australia's third most populous state, said on Sunday it does not need to order a lockdown after it detected zero COVID-19 infections in the past 24 hours.

Australian authorities on Wednesday extended the COVID-19 lockdown in Melbourne for another three weeks, as they shift their focus to rapid vaccination drives and move away from a suppression strategy to bring cases down to zero.

Australia's Canberra on Tuesday extended its hard lockdown by a further two weeks as the capital city struggles to contain a surge in the highly infectious Delta variant.

As Australia's COVID-19 deaths exceed 1,000, a grim toll but modest by global standards, a country that has used relentless lockdowns now faces perhaps its biggest health policy challenge of the pandemic - how to reopen.

Australian police on Monday criticised a Sydney church for flouting the city's Covid-19 lockdown by holding a service for 60 people in a pandemic hotspot.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Monday the country must begin to ease strict COVID-19 restrictions once vaccination rates increase, with over half of all Australians enduring weeks-long lockdowns to curb Delta outbreaks.

Sydney's two-month long lockdown will be extended until at least the end of September and masks will need to be worn outside as the Covid-19 delta variant outbreak in Australia's most populous city worsens.

New Zealand began a strict nationwide lockdown as it faces an outbreak of the delta variant, which on Wednesday was linked to the worsening Covid-19 crisis in neighboring Australia as cases in New South Wales rose to a record high of more than 600.

Australia's biggest city of Sydney recorded its deadliest day of the COVID-19 pandemic on Monday, while residents in Melbourne face a nightly curfew and a further two weeks of lockdown amid a surge in infections.

Hundreds of unarmed defence personnel joined thousands of extra police to set up roadblocks and enforce COVID-19 lockdown rules in parts of Sydney on Monday, while dozens of new venues were added to a list of exposure sites in Melbourne.

The spread of the delta variant of the coronavirus from Sydney into regional areas of New South Wales state -- which had 344 cases on Wednesday -- has forced another Australian city into lockdown.

Australian authorities on Tuesday vowed to crank up policing of anti-COVID lockdown rules in Sydney, but dismissed suggestions that tougher measures, including a curfew, were needed after the city reported its biggest single-day new case number yet.

Australia expanded a COVID-19 lockdown to a rural town and the coastal region of Byron Bay on Monday, as fears grew that the virus has spread from Sydney to the northern tip of the country's most populous state.

Australia's Victoria state reported six locally acquired cases of COVID-19 on Friday, the first day of a snap one-week lockdown as officials rush to trace the source of several unlinked new infections detected in Melbourne, the state capital.