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NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian called it the “most worrying day” of the pandemic, adding that the state “was throwing it all in”.
“It is literally a war,” she told a press conference, shortly before the deputy prime minister announced that NSW would enter an instant seven-day lockdown from 5 p.m. on Saturday.
Stay-at-home orders will be enforced in the country’s most populous state, with people only allowed to leave their homes to purchase essentials, receive medical care, exercise outdoors with another person. and work if residents cannot work from home. Schooling will also be put back online.
Sydney, the capital of New South Wales, has been on lockdown for more than seven weeks now, and they will likely be further extended; they were due to end on August 28, but the state government has indicated restrictions will remain until September.
Australia’s Department of Defense said on Friday it received a request for additional staff to help police enforce home quarantine orders in the worst-hit suburbs of Sydney, according to Reuters.
More than 500 military personnel are already assisting police in the city, which has a population of around 5 million, including monitoring compliance activities at hotels and airports. 200 additional people will be deployed from Monday.
They will be part of Operation Stay at Home, which will also launch on Monday, in which residents must stay within 5 kilometers (about 3.1 miles) of their homes, Berejiklian said on Saturday.
Fines for non-compliance are increased, including a fine of AU $ 5,000 (approximately $ 3,680) for violating the home quarantine or giving false information on an exemption permit or contact tracer, according to state officials.
Fines for group exercises of more than two people and travel within areas of the state will also increase to AU $ 3,000 (approximately $ 2,200).
Closures have also been imposed in other major Australian cities – at least 10 million people nationwide now face restrictions, representing around 40% of the country’s population.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is under fire for a slow vaccine rollout, with 19.65% of its population fully vaccinated, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. That’s well below the numbers seen in the UK, US and EU, despite Australia’s smaller population.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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