Australia Reports Rise In Virus Cases Amid Violent Protests

The authorities have said they want that number near zero before liting the city’s most restrictive lockdown of the pandemic at a July 30 target date

SYDNEY

Australia’s most populous state reported a rise in new COVID-19 cases on Monday despite a weekslong stay-at-home order, while police vowed to crack down on any repeat of an anti-lockdown protest which turned violent at the weekend.

New South Wales, which has had more than 5 million people in Sydney city under lockdown for a month, reported 145 new cases of the virus, from 141 a day earlier, as it struggles to contain an outbreak of the highly contagious Delta variant.

The state also reported two new deaths, a man and a woman both in their 80s, taking its total fatalities to 10 since the flare-up began a month ago and the national total to 920 since the start of the pandemic.

Of particular concern, 51 of the newly diagnosed were active in the community before testing positive, raising the risk of transmission.

The authorities have said they want that number near zero before liting the city’s most restrictive lockdown of the pandemic at a July 30 target date.