Covid-19 has been declared a national emergency in four of Australia’s eight main cities, as officials battle new outbreaks of the extremely virulent Delta strain. Perth, Western Australia’s capital, began a four-day lockdown on June 29, 2021 at midnight, while Brisbane, Queensland’s capital, had a three-day lockdown on the evening of June 29, 2021. They joined Sydney, the capital of New South Wales, and Darwin, the capital of the Northern Territory, in being placed under lockdown. According to government figures, the four cities have a combined population of more than 10.2 million people. Furthermore, the national health department recorded 271 active cases in the country as of June 28, 2021, in the afternoon, most of which are in New South Wales.

Australia was praised for its prompt response to the pandemic and for getting its economy back on track quickly. However, with that security has come complacency, especially among the federal government, which failed to secure enough vaccine doses to prevent the “circuit breaker” lockdowns that are sets of restrictions designed to reverse the tide of the epidemic and bring the number of cases down. After officials discovered a third case linked to the Sydney outbreak, residents of Perth and the nearby Peel region are being advised to stay at home unless absolutely necessary. People will be obliged to stay at home in Brisbane, the country’s third-largest city, except for needed work, health care, grocery shopping, or exercise.