Australia

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…

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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…

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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…

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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,…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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McKeon gets record seventh Olympic medal, Dressel clinches sprint double

TOKYO, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Australia's Emma McKeon became the first female swimmer to win seven medals at a single Olympic Games on Sunday after completing the sprint double with…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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Olympics-Rugby-Australia advance in Sevens but mighty Fiji await in quarter-finals

Australia scraped into the quarter-finals of the Olympic Rugby Sevens on Tuesday, after a wet morning session completed the pool stages at the Tokyo Stadium, and will face defending champions…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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Bubble burst: New Zealand suspends quarantine-free travel with Australia

New Zealand will pause its quarantine-free travel arrangement with Australia for at least eight weeks starting Friday night, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said, as Australia fights an outbreak of the…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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.…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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As COVID cases rise, Australia’s New South Wales says next 2 days ‘critical’

Australia's New South Wales (NSW) on Monday said the next two days would be "absolutely critical" in deciding whether a two-week anti-coronavirus lockdown in Sydney, set to end on July…

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Australian officials report biggest daily COVID-19 caseload for 2021

Australia's New South Wales state recorded its biggest daily rise in COVID-19 infections this year, even as residents in several major cities across the country were released from snap lockdowns…

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Australian job vacancies surge to record, firms struggle to find workers

Job vacancies in Australia hit record highs in the May quarter to be 57% above pre-pandemic levels, while businesses in all sectors reported difficulties in finding workers in a rapidly…

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Australia to halve arrivals from overseas

Australia will halve the number of arrivals from overseas as its coronavirus hotel quarantine system creaks under pressure from outbreaks of the highly transmissible Delta variant, Prime Minister Scott Morrison…

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Australia’s NSW state says Delta outbreak grows despite lockdown

Australia's New South Wales (NSW) state on Thursday warned that significant numbers of new COVID-19 cases were being found in the community, raising fears of fresh clusters as it reported…

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Sydney’s COVID-19 cases rise, four Australian cities in lockdown

Australia's New South Wales (NSW), the worst-hit state in the country's latest coronavirus outbreak, reported 22 new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases on Wednesday as four major cities endure a hard…

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Australia tightens lockdown amid Delta virus outbreak, vaccine chaos

SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australia reported a slight rise in COVID-19 infections on Tuesday, while officials in several states tightened movement curbs and pushed for vaccinations to limit flare-ups of the highly…

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Three Australian cities lock down in fight against Delta COVID-19 variant

Australia's most populous state, New South Wales (NSW), reported a slight rise in locally acquired COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, while officials tightened curbs to contain flare-ups of the highly infectious Delta variant in several other…

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Australia’s Sydney and Darwin in COVID-19 lockdowns

Sydney began a two-week lockdown on Sunday as a cluster of cases of the highly infectious coronavirus Delta variant rose to 110 in Australia's largest city, while an outbreak in…

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