Aug 2, 2021: Australian authorities on Monday extended a snap three-day lockdown in Brisbane and some neighboring areas as hundreds of troops began patrolling Sydney to help enforce Covid 19 lockdown laws.

Sydney, Australia’s largest city, is into its sixth week of a lockdown as it struggles with a spike in infections that added nearly 3,500 cases since the first one was detected in a limousine driver who transported overseas airline crew.

Officials in New South Wales, whose capital is Sydney, have urged residents to stay indoors to prevent further surges and to help police enforce law enforcement after the army locks down.

About 300 soldiers, unarmed and under police command, will go door-to-door to make sure those who have tested positive are isolated in their homes. Following a steady rise in new cases, lockdown laws in southeastern Queensland, including Brisbane, will remain in effect until Sunday as authorities fear there may be more unidentified cases in the community and residents are being urged to get tested.

According to the original timeline, the restrictions in new South Wales are due to expire on Tuesday evening.

Thirteen locally acquired cases were detected in the state of Queensland, up from nine a day earlier.

Like Sydney, many other Australian cities are going through a cycle of stop and start lockdowns in many following the emergence of the rapidly transmissible delta variant and such restrictions are likely to remain in place until more vaccination coverage is available in the country.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has promised that once the country vaccinates 70 percent of the population over the age of 16, the imposition of lockdowns will be “less likely”, the total percentage of vaccinated population is now 19 percent. Morrison expects to reach the mark by the end of this year.

Although Australia’s vaccination campaign has lagged behind many other developed economies, it has so far performed much better in keeping its corona virus numbers relatively low, with only 34,400 cases and 924 deaths.

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