Australian officials have extended lockdown and social distancing measures to more of the country, with four major cities already under a hard lockdown in a race to contain an outbreak of the highly contagious Delta Covid-19 variant, according to Reuters.

Around one in two Australians are under stay-at-home orders, with millions of others subjected to movement curbs and mandatory mask-wearing amid Covid-19 flare-ups in several locations.

With more than 5m residents of greater Sydney under a two-week lockdown until July 9, New South Wales state has reported 22 new locally transmitted Covid-19 cases, all linked to prior infections.

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