People queue in their cars to get tested for COVID-19 at a pop-up testing clinic at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, June 25, 2021. (DEAN LEWINS / AAP IMAGE VIA AP)

MELBOURNE / BENGALURU / TASHKENT / JERUSALEM / ANKARA / TEHRAN / WELLINGTON / COLOMBO / NEW DELHI / ULAN BATOR / MANILA / JAKARTA / DHAKA - Greater Sydney was put into a two-week lockdown to fight an outbreak of the highly-transmissible Delta variant of the coronavirus, straining Australia’s so-called “COVID-zero” strategy as vaccinations lag behind other developed nations.

Residents can only go out for reasons such as food shopping, medical care or essential work and education that can’t be done from their own homes, New South Wales state Premier Gladys Berejiklian said on Saturday. The decision followed the detection of a dozen more new local infections and increased exposure sites that are complicating contact tracing. The curbs will apply until July 9.

The lockdown will also include the regions of Blue Mountains, Central Coast and Wollongong, which surround Sydney.

“Even though we don’t want to impose burdens unless we absolutely have to, unfortunately, this is a situation where we absolutely have to,” Berejiklian said at a press briefing, adding there was no need for people to panic-buy goods.

Officials had earlier imposed stay-at-home orders in portions of the city, but the new restrictions now affect more than 5 million people. Masks will be compulsory indoors in non-residential settings - including workplaces - and at organized outdoor events. Household visitors are limited to five guests, while outdoor exercise in groups of 10 or less is permitted.

Berejiklian said officials would re-evaluate the situation after seven days if there was a dramatic improvement. Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the move to impose the lockdown was a necessary decision.

New South Wales recorded 29 new local cases in the 24 hours through 8 pm Friday, state Premier Gladys Berejiklian said Saturday, adding 17 had already been announced previously. Some 82 local infections have been detected since the first case in the current cluster came to light in Sydney, according to a statement.

Meanwhile, Victoria state reported four new cases in the past 24 hours, one of which was locally acquired and three from overseas, all currently quarantining. 

Separately, a worker at a gold mine operated by Newmont Corp. in the remote Tanami Desert in the Northern Territory tested positive for the virus, prompting the territory's authorities to order the isolation of more than 1,600 people in three states who had had contact with the worker. The mine was put into lockdown.

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India

India's COVID-19 tally rose to 30,183,143 on Saturday after 48,698 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours, according to the health ministry.

The death toll increased to 394,493 as 1,183 deaths were recorded since Friday morning.

Currently there are 595,565 active cases in the country, down 17,303, the first time in 86 days with less than 600,000 active infections, the ministry said in a statement.

Director of the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Sujeet Singh said on Friday that more than 50 cases of Delta Plus variant have been recorded in 18 districts of India.

Two deaths involving the variant have been reported, according to media reports.

Also on Friday, India's richest state ordered malls and cinema halls to close as it scrambles to control a more transmissible variant of the coronavirus that has scuppered plans to ease lockdown measures.

At least 20 cases in Maharashtra state have been found linked to the new Delta Plus variant that India designated a variant of concern on Tuesday, according to the health ministry.

"Positivity rate and daily infections were going down consistently until a week ago, but in some regions again cases have started to rise," a senior government official in Maharashtra told Reuters, declining to be named.

"We don't know whether this is due to easing restrictions or the new variant, but this is a concern," the official added.

Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan will tighten COVID-19 restrictions across the country and impose partial lockdown in Tashkent for two weeks amid surging COVID-19 infections, the Uzbek health ministry said Friday.

Under the decision of the Uzbek special commission to fight against the coronavirus, restrictions will be imposed on entry to the capital city from neighboring regions by vehicles "in the absence of an urgent need" from June 28 to July 12, according to the ministry.

During that period, the opening hours of all entertainment facilities throughout the country, including restaurants, nightclubs, karaoke bars, billiard and computer rooms, and catering facilities, will be shortened till 8 pm, and the number of visitors should not exceed 50 percent of their total capacity, it said.

The country registered 476 cases for the past day, the highest daily tally reported since the start of this year, said health authorities Friday.

Uzbekistan has so far registered 108,184 COVID-19 cases and 725 related deaths. 

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Israel

The number of active coronavirus cases in Israel rose from 803 to 984 on Friday, the Ministry of Health said.

This is the highest number of active cases in Israel since May 8.

The ministry also reported 194 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the tally to 840,638.

The death toll remained unchanged at 6,429 while the number of patients in serious condition stayed at 27.

The number of people vaccinated against COVID-19 in Israel reached nearly 5.54 million, or 59.4 percent of its total population.

Turkey

Turkey on Friday confirmed 5,630 new COVID-19 cases, including 477 symptomatic patients, raising the total number of cases in the country to 5,398,878, according to the health ministry.

The death toll rose by 56 to 49,473 while the total recoveries climbed to 5,261,892 after 7,184 more people recovered in the last 24 hours.

People line up to get vaccinated with the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine during a mass vaccination at Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium in Jakarta, Indonesia, June 26, 2021. (DITA ALANGKARA / AP)

Indonesia

Indonesia recorded its biggest daily increase in coronavirus cases on Saturday with 21,095 cases, taking the total tally to 2,093,962, according to data from the country’s health ministry.

The data showed 358 new deaths overnight, taking the total to 56,729.

Indonesia has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths from COVID-19 in Southeast Asia.

Afghanistan 

A press videographer who was traveling with President Ashraf Ghani's delegation tested positive for COVID-19, according to a notification released by Congress's Office of Attending Physician on Friday.

Ghani is in Washington this week for a round of meetings with US President Joe Biden and congressional leaders, as the last US troops prepare to leave Afghanistan.

The videographer was not inside the meeting with congressional leaders, but had attended a photo op by Ghani and the House of Representatives' Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a source familiar with the situation said.

"It was our understanding that everybody in the delegation was vaccinated," the source said.

Iran

The Iranian health ministry reported on Friday 10,820 new COVID-19 cases, taking the total caseload to 3,150,949.

The death toll rose by 115 to 83,588, the Ministry of Health and Medical Education said in a briefing published on the ministry's official website.

 A total of 2,809,595 people have recovered while 3,219 patients were still in intensive care units, the ministry said.

By Friday, 4,415,864 people have received one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine while 1,127,886 have taken both jabs.

New Zealand

New Zealand reported four new cases of COVID-19, the Ministry of Health said in a statement on Saturday.

The fresh cases involve recent returnees in managed isolation facilities, said the ministry, adding that there was no new infection in the wider community.

The number of active cases stood at 21, and the cumulative caseload reached 2,373, according to the ministry.

The ministry confirmed that the whole genome sequencing of an Australian tourist who visited Wellington on June 19-21 was the Delta variant.

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka hopes to vaccinate all citizens above the age of 30 years against the COVID-19 virus by September, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said.

In a televised address to the nation on Friday, Rajapaksa said Sri Lanka had received 1,264,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines, 3.1 million doses of Sinopharm vaccines, and 130,000 doses of Sputnik V vaccines.

In July, more doses of Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines are expected to arrive from China, and arrangements had also been made to obtain 2 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccines from Russia, he said.

"We could vaccinate 13 million people by the end of September this year. Accordingly, we can vaccinate almost everyone over the age of 30 by that time," the president said.

Rajapaksa said that Sri Lanka is facing a third wave of coronavirus due to mass gatherings and traveling during the holidays in April, and a number of different strains have spread in the country, which created a more dangerous situation than ever before.

Mongolia

Mongolia recorded 2,362 locally transmitted COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide tally to 107,262, the health ministry said Saturday.

The country also saw 12 more fatalities, taking the toll to 524, said the ministry.

A total of 68,751 people have recovered, and more than 1,723,800 Mongolians have been fully vaccinated.

The Philippines 

The Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) reported on Saturday 6,871 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19, bringing the tally to 1,391,911.

The death toll rose to 24,244 after 92 more deaths were recorded, the DOH said.

Bangladesh

The Bangladeshi government announced Friday night it would impose a nationwide strict lockdown for a week from Monday to help curb the spread of COVID-19 in the country, urging people to avoid non-essential trips.

All offices, including government, semi-government, and private offices, will be closed from Monday, and no one will be allowed to go outside except for necessary trips.

The announcement came hours after health authorities reported the country's second highest daily toll of 108 fatalities, taking the overall toll to 13,976.

The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) also reported 5,869 new cases, taking the overall tally to 878,804.