BRISBANE, Australia—A lockdown of Australia’s third-largest city Brisbane was extended until Sunday because of a growing Covid-19 outbreak.
Brisbane and several surrounding municipalities in Queensland state were due to end a three-day lockdown on Tuesday. But the Queensland government on Monday announced the extension after 13 locally acquired infections of the highly contagious Delta variant were detected in the latest 24-hour period.
Australia’s largest city, Sydney, and surrounding cities in New South Wales state are in their sixth week of lockdown. The New South Wales government on Monday reported 207 new locally acquired infections.
Meanwhile, Defense Minister Peter Dutton said he was quarantining at home in Brisbane and would attend Parliament remotely. He said in a statement he has tested negative but must quarantine because of a virus cluster at his sons’ school.
Dutton was infected with the coronavirus in March 2020 during a trip to Washington, D.C. He has since been fully vaccinated.
Lawmakers who attend Parliament in person face daily saliva tests for Covid-19, must wear masks and must practice social distancing.
New Zealand easing border controls
New Zealand’s government plans to slightly ease its strict coronavirus border controls to allow migrant workers from the Pacific to harvest crops and wine grapes.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Monday it plans to allow some workers from Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu to enter without them going through the usual requirement to spend two weeks in quarantine.
Ardern said details of the plan are still being worked through and she can’t yet say how many workers might be eligible.
She added that the number of such workers currently in New Zealand was about 3,000 short of the 10,000 typically needed for the harvest.
There are no current outbreaks in Samoa, Tonga or Vanuatu, which have reported a total of just seven Covid-19 cases since the pandemic began. AP