Australian authorities pleaded with Sydney's five million residents to stay home, warning a three-week lockdown may be extended as they struggle to control a COVID-19 outbreak, with the city reporting the biggest rise in local cases in 2021
Hundreds of extra police patrolled parts of Sydney to enforce the city's lockdown orders imposed to stamp out an outbreak of the highly infectious Delta variant which now has a total of more than 400 cases.
Fourty-four locally acquired cases were reported on Friday in NSW, Australia's most populous state, eclipsing 38 a day earlier, with 29 of those having spent time in the community while infected. In efforts to further restrict people's interaction, from Friday evening public gatherings will be limited to two people and residents will only be allowed to travel 10 kms from their home.