Australia, Israel were Covid success stories. Then, Delta variant struck

GBNEWS24 DESK//

Australia and Israel, which had been successful in fending off Covid-19, reimposed restrictions on Friday as cases surged of the highly contagious Delta variant which also threatened Africa with a brutal third wave, reports AFP.

The centre of Australia’s largest city Sydney entered lockdown, a shock for a population that had returned to relative normality after months of recording very few local cases, while vaccination success story Israel reimposed indoor mask-wearing less than two weeks after it lifted the measure.

And in Fiji, another country that saw early successes against the virus, health authorities admitted for the first time that Covid transmission is widespread in the community.

While vaccination campaigns have helped bring down infections in numerous — mostly wealthy — countries, the rise of the Delta variant which was first found in India has led to fears of new waves of a virus that has already killed nearly 3.9 million people.

In Australia, which has been one of the most successful nations in containing the coronavirus after shutting its borders, around a million people in four eastern and central Sydney neighbourhoods were ordered to stay home for at least a week.

Sixty-five infections have been reported in a flare-up linked to a limousine driver infected about two weeks ago when he transported an international flight crew from Sydney airport to a quarantine hotel.

The premier of the state of New South Wales, Gladys Berejiklian, called it the “scariest period” since the pandemic began.

It was a dramatic development for a city that had returned to relative normality after months of recording very few local cases.