Australia’s largest city, Sydney, will remain in lockdown for another month. The New South Wales state government announced that the lockdown of the city of 5 million would last at least until Aug. 28, after reporting on Wednesday 177 new infections in the latest 24-hour period, the AP reports. It was the largest daily tally since the cluster was discovered in mid-June. "I am as upset and frustrated as all of you that we were not able to get the case numbers we would have liked at this point in time but that is the reality," New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters. More than 2,500 people have been infected in a cluster that began when a limousine driver tested positive on June 16 for the highly contagious delta variant. The driver had been infected by a US aircrew he transported from Sydney airport.
Elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region, Thailand has marked a new high in coronavirus cases with 16,533 confirmed infections and 133 deaths. The Health Ministry reported Wednesday that around 45% of the new cases were in Bangkok and its vicinity, the main hotspot for the outbreak that began in April. South Korea on Wednesday reported a new record 1,896 COVID-19 cases, a day after authorities started enforcing stringent restrictions in areas outside the capital region. Health officials say many cases in the Seoul area have been traced to restaurants, schools, public bathhouses, churches, and offices. In China, drivers seeking to leave Jiangsu province will have to show a negative COVID-19 test taken in the last 48 hours or be forced to turn around, as cases in the province continue to rise.
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