This content was published on July 29, 2021 – 03:11
Sydney (Australia), Jul 29 (EFE) .- Australian authorities imposed this Thursday the mandatory use of face masks in the open air in the area of the epicenter of the covid-19 outbreak in the city of Sydney and gave new powers to the Police to enforce sanitary measures.
“If you step outside your home, you need to wear a mask all the time no matter where you are,” said the head of government of the state of New South Wales, Gladys Berejiklian, when announcing at a press conference the measure that it applies to the eight municipalities where the greatest spread of the delta variant occurs.
Those municipalities in the west of the city, which have tougher restrictions than the rest of Sydney and the surrounding communities – which are confined from June 26 to August 27 – were also reduced, from 10 to 5 kilometers, the radius of movements allowed to do the shopping or exercise.
However, the new fine of 500 Australian dollars (368 US dollars or 310 euros) for not wearing masks, an increase of 40 percent, will apply to all residents of New South Wales without exception.
Given the increase in cases of covid-19, which this Thursday added 239 local infections and two deaths – the government of New South Wales reinforced the presence of the Police, to which it gave new powers to monitor compliance with the measures against covid-19.
“From tomorrow, the Police will have the power to close public establishments, construction projects, workplaces or businesses if they continue to fail to comply with public health measures,” said the head of the government of New South Wales.
The outbreak of the delta in Sydney – which accumulates since it was detected in mid-June, more than 2,600 infections and 13 deaths, including a young Latin American student, leaked a few weeks ago to other regions of Australia, which managed to control the propagation with strict and early confinements.
Australia, which maintains its international borders closed and attributes the outbreaks to the leakage of the virus from the quarantine centers of travelers, has accumulated more than 33,500 infections and 923 deaths since the start of the pandemic, while it has vaccinated with the full schedule to a 16 percent of the population over 16 years of age. EFE
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