NSW recorded its worst day of the pandemic with 262 new local COVID cases and 5 deaths, and the lockdown was extended to Newcastle and the Hunter region. Victoria went into a 7-day lockdown last night after recording 8 new local cases, including 2 mystery cases. It’s the state’s 6th locky d. And there is no guarantee the lockdown of Brisbane and Queensland’s populous southeastern corner will end as planned on Sunday after 16 new cases were reported yesterday. It means millions of Aussies face another weekend at home.

WHAT’S THAT ABOUT?
The Delta variant of the coronavirus is proving to be a complete and utter [insert words of your choosing…]. That means swift lockdowns are necessary to contain outbreaks early, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said yesterday, or else the state’s residents would be “locked down until Christmas, locked down until we get 80% of people through the vaccination program”. As Sydney completes 6 weeks of lockdown, vaccination is seen by NSW’s officials as the way out. And with 40% of yesterday’s new cases aged under 40yo, you can appreciate why young people are being encouraged to get jabbed ASAP with whatever vaccine they can get. Getting workers vaccinated is also in focus with Premier Gladys Berejiklian not ruling out a “no jab, no work” policy for some industries. On that note, Victorian food processor SPC yesterday became the first non-health-related business to make vaccination compulsory for staff and visitors. It says it’s “shoring up our company for the future”, and commentators say there will be more where that came from…

AND HOW’S THE WORLD GOING?
It’s nice of you to ask, but that’s a huge question, so there’s one figure to know: the world has now recorded more than 200 million coronavirus cases. Cases are rising in a 3rd of the world’s countries, and many, like Australia, have not given half their population the first dose of a vaccine.

Image source: Bloomberg