Adelaide will
become the latest Australian city to impose lockdown restrictions on Tuesday as
the country struggles to curb a fresh surge in COVID-19 cases. The state of South
Australia announced fresh measures to contain the virus after five new cases
were detected.

The state,
which Adelaide is the capital of, will now join Sydney and Melbourne in
lockdown, with over 14 million Australians now under orders to stay at home.

“From 6pm
tonight, South Australia moves into lockdown,” AFP quoted Premier Steven
Marshall as saying at a presser in Adelaide, hinting at an initial seven-day
lockdown. “We hate putting these restrictions in place, but we believe we have
just one chance — one chance to get this right.”

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As part of the new restrictions, residents are only allowed to leave their home for a select few reasons, including exercise, buying food and others.

The country
is among the worst in developed nations in terms of vaccinations, with only
about 11% of its 25 million population having received both doses. However, it
has been successful in preventing community transmission so far.

The more contagious
Delta variant, which was introduced in the country when an international flight
crew member infected a Sydney resident, is now leading a fresh surge as authorities
have been struggling to contain the mutant for the past month.

The virus
has now transcended state borders with the island nation reporting over a
hundred daily cases. The spread of the virus has been somewhat slowed down with
a timely lockdown in Sydney, which is entering its fourth week, but the city
continues to report new cases.

78 new
cases were reported in Sydney on Tuesday, which has taken its tally to 1,418
cases.

Meanwhile, the
snap five-day lockdown in Melbourne, which was due to end, has been extended by
another seven days as Queensland authorities remain on high alert for a woman
who visited a number of tourist sports after testing positive for the virus.