Australia tightens COVID curbs as Brisbane extends lockdown, army patrols Sydney

 Australia's Queensland state on Monday extended a COVID-19 lockdown in Brisbane, while soldiers began patrolling Sydney to enforce stay-at-home rules as Australia struggles to stop the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus spreading.

Queensland said it had detected 13 new locally acquired COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours - the biggest one-day rise the state has recorded in a year. The lockdown of Brisbane, Australia's third-biggest city, was due to end on Tuesday but will now stay in place until late on Sunday.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/australia-extends-covid-19-lockdown-brisbane-sunday-2021-08-02/