Delta variant cases spike in Australia’s two biggest cities

About 12 million people are in lockdown as Delta Variant cases rise in  NSW and Victoria .  NSW is in its 3^rd week of lockdown and Vistoria is in its 2^nd day of the lockdown.

New South Wales has recorded 111 new locally acquired Covid-19 cases as coronavirus cases from the Bondi cluster surged past 1000 on Friday. The spike has prompted the state to impose new lockdown measures including a halt on construction and new retail restrictions.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian tightened its lockdown restrictions and urged people to stay at home.

Construction sites will be shut down until July 30 and only “critical” retail including supermarkets and pharmacies will remain open.

“We want to get out of this lockdown as soon as we can,” the NSW Premier said on Saturday.

 “We want individuals, families and businesses to bounce back as soon as we can, and that’s why we’ve taken some very difficult decisions to make sure we are safe and to make sure we can quash this virus so that we can get out of the lockdown.”

From midnight tonight (Saturday), only "critical retail stores" can remain open.

"We have a list of what is critical retail," Ms Berejiklian said. "Obviously things like supermarkets, pharmacists, they will retain face-to-face retail. But anything which is regarded as non-critical retail will not be able to have face-to-face."

"Click and collect" options for takeaway and home delivery are still allowed to operate. Post offices, news agents and office stores will remain open.

It comes amid fears Victoria’s five-day snap lockdown could be extended, after the state recorded 19 new cases overnight.

Victoria has recorded 19 new cases of COVID-19 on the second day of a five-day lockdown. The 19 new cases include students and staff across three schools, another MCC case and two people who travelled to Phillip Island.

The new case linked to the MCC picked it up while sitting on level two and has since passed it onto two of his friends.

Victorians  are on their second day of lockdown. The number of exposure sites across the state has risen from 120 to 165 after several venues from the tourist hot spot of Phillip Island were added overnight.

Victoria's Health Minister says all but one of Victoria's new coronavirus cases have been infectious while in the community.

On Friday, Premier Daniel Andrews said the key indicator for deciding when the lockdown should end would be how many cases were infectious while they were out in the community. 

The current outbreak was seeded in New South Wales, when a family became ill after returning from Sydney and after a team of removalists travelled to Victoria and South Australia while infectious.

There are now more than 1000 cases in NSW and 54 Active cases in Victoria due to recent outbreak.