Australia

Sydney COVID-19 cases set to rise, hospitals under pressure

COVID-19 cases are set to "rise substantially" in Sydney in the coming weeks despite a prolonged lockdown, authorities said on Tuesday, warning soaring infections have already put hospitals under enormous strain. Australia,…

Read More Here

Sydney records deadliest day of COVID-19 pandemic, Melbourne lockdown extended

Australia's biggest city of Sydney recorded its deadliest day of the COVID-19 pandemic on Monday, while residents in Melbourne face a nightly curfew and a further two weeks of lockdown…

Read More Here

Australia’s New South Wales reports 415 new COVID-19 cases, near record high

SYDNEY, Aug 15 (Reuters) - New South Wales reported 415 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, down from the previous day's record 466, as Australia's most populous state…

Read More Here

Sydney lockdown fines raised as Australia faces ‘worst’ COVID-19 situation

Australia will increase fines to people breaching lockdown rules in the state of New South Wales as it battles a record jump in local COVID-19 infections and Sydney, the state…

Read More Here

Sydney daily COVID-19 cases hit record high, more troops to enforce lockdown

Hundreds more defence personnel will deploy next week to Sydney to help enforce the city's lockdown after authorities on Friday reported the biggest daily rise in COVID-19 cases from the…

Read More Here

Sydney to tighten COVID-19 curbs, Australian capital to enter lockdown

Extra Australian military personnel may be called in to ensure compliance with lockdown rules in Sydney, the New South Wales state government said on Thursday, as the highly infectious Delta…

Read More Here

Melbourne COVID lockdown extended for week after 20 new cases reported

Australia's second-biggest city Melbourne will stay locked down for a second week after reporting 20 new COVID-19 cases as it struggles to stamp out infections caused by the highly infectious Delta variant…

Read More Here

Lockdown crackdown: Sydney police to step up enforcement after COVID record

Australian authorities on Tuesday vowed to crank up policing of anti-COVID lockdown rules in Sydney, but dismissed suggestions that tougher measures, including a curfew, were needed after the city reported its…

Read More Here

Australia expands COVID-19 lockdown over concern of spread to countryside

Australian authorities expanded a COVID-19 lockdown to the rural town of Tamworth on Monday due to fears the coronavirus may have spread from the city of Sydney into the countryside,…

Read More Here

Australia PM’s ratings hit pandemic lows amid lockdowns

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison's public approval rating hit its lowest level since the pandemic began amid growing frustration over lockdowns and a sluggish vaccination drive, according to a poll…

Read More Here

Australia’s New South Wales state expands COVID-19 lockdown

Australia's most populous state of New South Wales expanded its COVID-19 lockdown to the rural town of Tamworth on Monday due to concerns the virus may have spread from Sydney…

Read More Here

Australia’s east coast continues to struggle with Delta outbreaks

Australia's three most populous states of New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland reported a total of 282 COVID-19 new locally acquired infections on Sunday, with authorities struggling to quell outbreaks…

Read More Here

Australia suffers worst COVID day this year with millions in lockdown

MELBOURNE, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Australia saw a record daily number of new coronavirus cases this year on Saturday, with the country's most populous states of New South Wales, Victoria…

Read More Here

Delta spreads in Sydney as Australia widens COVID-19 restrictions

Australian officials warned Sydney residents on Friday to brace for a surge in COVID-19 cases after the country's largest city logged record infections for the second straight day despite a…

Read More Here

Australia to adopt Magnitsky style sanctions law

Australia will adopt a sanctions law similar to the U.S. Magnitsky Act that allows targeted financial sanctions and travel bans against individuals who are "perpetrators of egregious acts of international…

Read More Here

Sydney suffers worst pandemic day as lockdown nears six weeks

Sydney reported its worst day of the COVID-19 pandemic on Thursday with five deaths and a record rise in locally acquired infections as a weeks-long hard lockdown is struggling to…

Read More Here

Australia records one of its youngest COVID-19 deaths amid Sydney outbreak

SYDNEY, Aug 4 (Reuters) - An Australian man in his 20s died at home of COVID-19 in Sydney, authorities said on Wednesday, one of the country's youngest coronavirus deaths. The…

Read More Here

Sydney’s ticket out of COVID lockdown? Six million shots

Australia's New South Wales, home to Sydney, said on Tuesday it could ease a COVID-19 lockdown that demands five million people stay at home until the end of August if 50% of the…

Read More Here

Australia’s east coast battles rising COVID-19 cases

MELBOURNE, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Australia's east coast states of New South Wales and Queensland faced an escalating battle against the COVID-19 Delta variant on Sunday, with millions under strict…

Read More Here

A look at Australia’s path to reopening international borders

Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced a four-stage plan to greater freedom from coronavirus restrictions, saying Australia will have to vaccinate 80% of its adults against COVID-19 before it can…

Read More Here

COVID-19 cases surge in Sydney, police cordon off downtown to prevent rally

New South Wales, Australia's most populous state, reported 210 locally acquired cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, as police cordoned off downtown Sydney with multiple checkpoints to prevent a planned anti-lockdown…

Read More Here

Australia PM says need 80% of adult population vaccinated before reopening

Australia will have to vaccinate 80% of its adults against COVID-19 before it can consider reopening its border, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday as he announced a four-stage…

Read More Here

Sydney COVID-19 cases ease amid tightening of lockdown rules

Sydney on Friday reported a slight easing in locally acquired cases of COVID-19 amid a further tightening of restrictions in the worst-affected suburbs, with the military summoned to help enforce…

Read More Here

Australian military to help enforce Sydney COVID-19 lockdown as cases rise

Australia's military will help enforce a lockdown in Sydney after the city of 6 million posted a record daily rise in COVID-19 cases on Thursday and state authorities said the…

Read More Here

Sydney posts record daily COVID-19 cases, police powers extended to enforce lockdown

Delta outbreak in Australia's biggest city Sydney grew by 239 cases on Thursday, the highest daily rise since the pandemic started, forcing authorities to increase police powers to shut down…

Read More Here

Sydney adds four weeks to lockdown as Australia COVID-19 cases spike

The Australian city of Sydney extended a lockdown by four weeks on Wednesday after an already protracted stay-at-home order failed to douse a COVID-19 outbreak, with the authorities warning of…

Read More Here

Australia’s Victoria to ease COVID-19 curbs, Sydney cases rise

Australia's Victoria state said on Tuesday it will lift a strict lockdown after curtailing the spread of COVID-19, while neighbouring New South Wales faces an extension of restrictions after daily new cases…

Read More Here

Dieter Brummer: Home and Away actor dies aged 45

Australian actor Dieter Brummer, who was best known for his role as Shane Parrish on TV soap Home And Away, has died aged 45. Brummer was found dead at a…

Read More Here

Australia sees COVID-19 cases climb, police warn against protest repeat

Australia's most populous state reported a rise in new COVID-19 cases on Monday despite a weeks-long stay-at-home order, while police vowed to crack down on any repeat of a wild…

Read More Here

Australians may face longer lockdown after mass protests

Australia's New South Wales logged its second-highest daily increase in locally acquired COVID-19 cases of the year on Sunday amid fears of a wave of new infections after thousands of…

Read More Here

Australia’s COVID-19 outbreak worsens in Sydney

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Australia's most populous state, New South Wales, on Saturday reported a new daily high of COVID-19 infections for a third straight day this year, in a worsening…

Read More Here

Sydney’s COVID-19 outbreak throws harsh spotlight on Australia vaccine rollout

Australia's New South Wales state on Friday reported its biggest daily rise in new COVID-19 cases this year, prompting a tighter lockdown in Sydney and a request for additional vaccine…

Read More Here

Photo Story – Daily life amid COVID-19 pandemic in Victoria, Australia

A person wearing a face mask is seen in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 23 July 2021. Victoria has recorded 14 new cases of locally acquired COVID-19 in the past 24 hours.…

Read More Here

Australia’s drug regulator approves Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for 12 to 15-year-olds

Australia's drug regulator has approved Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine for use with 12 to 15-year-olds, Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said on Friday, as the country fights an outbreak of the…

Read More Here

Australian states squabble as NSW seeks vaccine priority amid COVID ’emergency’

Australia's largest state of New South Wales on Friday urged the federal government to divert vaccine doses to Sydney, the epicentre of a flaring COVID-19 outbreak, raising objections from other…

Read More Here

Australian regulator to probe Amazon, eBay among online markets

The Australian antitrust regulator on Thursday began an inquiry into the local units of Amazon.com Inc, eBay Inc and other online markets to ensure fairness in a sector where sales…

Read More Here

Australian PM apologises for COVID-19 vaccine delays as cases spike

Australia's prime minister apologised for a sluggish COVID-19 vaccination programme on Thursday, while the country's most populous state reported its biggest one-day spike in infections in 16 months and warned…

Read More Here

Coronavirus cases in Australia spike again despite weeks-long lockdown

Coronavirus cases in Australia spiked again on Thursday, despite a weeks-long lockdown, with authorities warning that infections would rise more and take a toll on the economy as the country…

Read More Here

Australia’s Brisbane named host of 2032 summer Olympic Games

TOKYO, July 21 (Reuters) - The Australian city of Brisbane will host the 2032 summer Olympics, after the International Olympic Committee on Wednesday approved the recommendation of its executive board.…

Read More Here

Australia, under lockdown, sees jump in COVID-19 cases

Australia's two largest states reported sharp increases in new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, a blow to hopes that lockdown restrictions would be lifted with more than half the country's population…

Read More Here

Australia man ties bedsheets together to escape 4th floor hotel quarantine – police

A man in the Australian city of Perth escaped mandatory quarantine in a hotel by scaling down a rope made of tied together bedsheets from a fourth-floor window, police said on…

Read More Here

Australia’s Victoria extends COVID-19 lockdown by seven days

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia's Victoria state extended its COVID-19 lockdown by seven days until July 27 as officials sought more time to quell an outbreak of the highly infectious Delta…

Read More Here

Australian PM Morrison’s approval rating slumps on slow vaccine rollout

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison's approval ratings fell to the lowest level in more than a year, according to a poll published on Monday, as a sluggish COVID-19 vaccine rollout…

Read More Here

UPDATED: Australia to extend COVID-19 lockdown in Victoria amid Delta outbreak, woman from Sydney dies of COVID

Australian authorities said Victoria state would extend a COVID-19 lockdown beyond Tuesday to slow the spread of the highly infectious Delta variant, despite a slight drop in new infections in…

Read More Here

Australia, under lockdown, reports slight dip in COVID-19 cases

SYDNEY, July 18 (Reuters) - The Australian state of Victoria reported a slight dip in new COVID-19 infections on Sunday, raising hope a short lockdown would quash an outbreak of…

Read More Here

EPA’s Eye in the Sky: Harden, Australia

An aerial view of a canola crop near Harden, New South Wales, in Australia. Photo: EPA-EFE/MICK TSIKAS

Read More Here

Sydney tightens lockdown as Australia’s COVID-19 cases rise

The Australian city of Sydney on Saturday ordered a shutdown of building sites, banned non-essential retail and threatened fines for employers who make staff come into the office as new…

Read More Here

Australia races to stem COVID-19 outbreaks in Sydney, Melbourne

Australian officials urged people to obey lockdown measures that cover around 40% of the country's population as an outbreak of the highly contagious COVID-19 Delta variant again picked up pace…

Read More Here

UPDATED: Melbourne enters lockdown, joining Sydney as virus spreads in Australia

The Australian state of Victoria was ordered into a five-day lockdown on Thursday following a spike in COVID-19 infections, joining Sydney city as the country's two main population hubs battle…

Read More Here

Australia extends Sydney lockdown as COVID-19 outbreak nears 900 infections

SYDNEY, July 14 (Reuters) - Australian authorities extended a lockdown in Sydney on Wednesday by at least 14 days, after three weeks of initial restrictions failed to stamp out the…

Read More Here

Sydney’s COVID-19 cases ease but lockdown extension still on cards

Australian authorities reported a slight easing in new COVID-19 cases in Sydney on Tuesday, but left open the possibility of extending a lockdown in the country's largest city to douse an outbreak…

Read More Here

Australia’s COVID-19 Delta outbreak worsens despite Sydney lockdown

The prospect of an extended lockdown in Sydney loomed on Monday as Australian health officials reported yet another record daily rise in COVID-19 cases for the year, fuelled by the…

Read More Here

Australia reports first 2021 COVID-19 death, highest case number

Australia reported its first coronavirus-related death of the year on Sunday and a 2021 record 77 new cases of the virus in the state of New South Wales, which is…

Read More Here

Australia’s New South Wales reports 2021 record daily rise in COVID-19 cases

MELBOURNE, July 10 (Reuters) - Australia's most populous state, New South Wales, reported on Saturday its biggest daily rise in locally acquired cases of COVID-19 so far this year, as…

Read More Here

Sydney to face prolonged COVID-19 lockdown amid record 2021 cases

Australian authorities on Friday pleaded with Sydney residents to stay at home, warning a three week lockdown may be extended as they struggle to control a COVID-19 outbreak, with the…

Read More Here

Sydney sees worst day of 2021 as Delta COVID-19 outbreak spreads

Australia's New South Wales state on Thursday reported its biggest daily rise in locally acquired cases of COVID-19 for the year as officials struggle to stamp out a growing cluster…

Read More Here

Sydney locked down for another week as Delta COVID variant spreads

The leader of Australia's New South Wales (NSW) state on Wednesday ordered a week-long extension of Sydney's COVID-19 lockdown, warning new cases are bound to rise as the country's biggest…

Read More Here