Australia's biggest city has announced tighter Covid restrictions including heavier fines and tighter policing on as authorities battle to contain a Delta outbreak and say they are seeing the “most concerning day of the pandemic” so far, reports AFP.

Residents of Sydney, going into an eighth week under stay-at-home orders, will now face heftier fines for flouting rules or lying to contact tracers, with current restrictions proving insufficient to stop the spread.

Police will boost patrols and checkpoints while hundreds more defence force personnel will help enforce stay-at-home orders as the outbreak in the most populous state of New South Wales hit another daily record of 466 community cases.