Australia battles Delta Covid surge as Europe eases restrictions

Australia's largest city Sydney entered a two-week lockdown on June 26 to contain a sudden Covid surge, but several European nations lifted restrictions despite the global spread of a highly contagious form of the disease.

While vaccination drives have brought down infections in numerous - mostly wealthy - countries, the rise of the Delta variant which first emerged in India has stoked fears of new waves of a virus that has already killed nearly four million people.

Sydney's normally bustling harborside centre was nearly deserted after its lockdown took effect, with officials bracing the public for a spiraling crisis.

"We do need to brace ourselves for a potentially large number of cases in the following days," said Gladys Berejiklian, the Premier of New South Wales state.

"When you have a contagious variant, like the Delta virus, a three-day lockdown doesn't work -- if we're going to do this we need to do it properly," she added.

The new restrictions apply to some five million people across Sydney, along with hundreds of thousands of others living in nearby population centres.

Many are reeling from the shock of the sudden onset of the outbreak in a city that had returned to relative normality after months with very few cases.

"We've been struggling to get back from the lockdowns of last year," said Chris Kriketos, 32, who works at a family-run bakery in central Sydney.
"Today just feels like another kick while you're slowly getting up."

Globally, the pandemic is still slowing down, with the World Health Organization (WHO) reporting the lowest number of new cases worldwide since February and decreasing deaths attributed to the coronavirus.
But concerns over the Delta variant have prompted new...