Entire Australian state goes into lockdown as virus surges

Like Suga in Japan, the NSW premier is putting all her cards on the vaccines to solve the virus problems. However there is a big complication for Sydney and Australia. They want zero cases and zero deaths ( whereas Japan just wants less of both) but this is totally impossible even if 80% of the population is vaccinated - this is certain as can be seen from the UK and Israel. And she is even talking about softening the newly further restricted lockdown when 50% of the population is vaccinated! Complete nonsense! She is going to do a complete about term after all these totalitarian lockdowns that are all pushed as necessary to save lives, and now say a certain number of cases and deaths is okay? Will the Australian people accept this? More likely Sydney and all Australia in fact will just stay lock downed forever with people cowering in their homes in fear living off the generous welfare where some people are paid more to stay home than they would get if they went to work, for many more months to come.

As of 5pm today the whole of NSW is going into lockdown with stay at home orders statewide. No unnecessary travel, only one person from each household permitted to go shopping and no visitors.

Seems like a new breed of an authoritarian state is in the works. Hope the people stand up for their rights.

They want zero cases and zero deaths ( whereas Japan just wants less of both) but this is totally impossible even if 80% of the population is vaccinated - this is certain as can be seen from the UK and Israel. 

80% of the UK and Israeli population is not fully vaccinated.

Factual inaccuracies aside, Australia needs to speed up vaccinations. How long can they keep locking down like this?

I think this premier is the woman who advised people to rat on anyone they see, isn’t she?

Australia, the free world is watching you.

Those radical lockdowns are working great, arent they.

memoryfixToday  03:23 pm JST

Australia, the free world is watching you.

Minor correction: what's left of the free world is watching you.

Japan's leadership needs to follow the Australian model of containment in order to eradicate this deadly virus.

They cannot be realistic to ever get to zero unless they forever ban all travel and travelers. COVID will exist around the planet forever, and Australians will either have to learn to live with it or else Australia will become a hermit state perpetually locked down from the rest of the world. As the vaccines are not stopping the current variants, even vaccinating one hundred percent of the population will not be foolproof, and cases will always pop up. Then what? At some point, the population will decide the lockdowns can't go on.

This is no longer about health and safety: this is about power. Certain people have gotten used to getting paid a handsome sum for telling others what and what not to do and they are not about to give that authority up. We had better start standing up for ourselves our the cowardly among us are going to end our way of life. Watch for the variants to keep coming every few weeks or so to justify more mandates. Next on The agenda are climate lockdowns and I wouldn’t be surprised to see economic lockdowns one day. If the cowardly want to live in glass cases because of “safety first” then let them but I for one as going to pass.

That’s very good and a step into the necessary direction, although a measure for only one week shouldn’t be called a lockdown, when it is already known, that the viruses are capable of surviving in vivo for about 70 days. That’s more kind of a short test of a lockdown, not more, but compared to many other places on the planet, it is also not less. So to say, a still useless effort but at least an effort.

Residents of Sydney, going into an eighth week under stay-at-home order

　what a waste of peoples time.

If they dont manage to get the numbers down then the reality is NSW could be in lockdown until end of November because thats the projected timeline for 70% full vaccination of 16+ year olds.

And unless the Feds dish out billions, yet again, there will be no small businesses left in NSW when things do reopen. People calling for the vaccinated to be free to roam and I support that, but the reality is none of the vaccines are actually vaccines. They are a pre-emptive medication to prevent the worse and thats all they are.

Can still catch it, can still transmit it, can still get ill and in very rare cases, can still die. That doesnt sound like a vaccine to me. We should stop using the word.

Can still catch it, can still transmit it, can still get ill and in very rare cases, can still die

Sounds like the flu to me. That's how it needs to be treated once the elderly and vulnerable have had the opportunity to be vaccinated.

After months of pursuing a "COVID zero" strategy ...

... Australia has FAILED. Hardly surprising, as this "COVID zero strategy" is an impossibility. It is not even desirable, given the cost of achieving it, in terms of lost liberties and economic damage.

And as for the so-called "surge" in infections, this is a joke. The number is minimal and easily tolerated.

The number of infections in the UK is much higher, but this does not translate into an intolerable number of deaths, because (i) the virus is not particularly lethal, and (ii) the vaccines work. So just live with Covid - as we do with the cold or the flu - and get back to living normally.

80% of the UK and Israeli population is not fully vaccinated.

Sorry I just saw it is only just over 78% of the eligible Israeli population ( and that was couple day ago) . But anyhow my point is whether it is 70 or 80 or 90 % of the population, there will NOT be zero cases and zero deaths whatever, so if Australia thinks that vaccines will save them with their current zero/zero policy they are severely deluded. They will need to do a 180 degree turn and tell people to abandon all current policies and leave the safety of their locked up homes (and welfare payments to stay home) and to go our and risk to get the virus and a few of you will die. With the current sacrifices they are going though living under the most authoritarian rules and penalties this may not be such an easy sell.

They are now following Chinese protocol. What is next? So happy to live in a free Japan.

Not even close. China locks people in their homes or apartments and not allowed out for any reason.

Australia you can go out to exercise up to 5km from home. You can go shopping for food and essentials and doctors visits plus you can keep working if in an essential job like supermarket employee, courier etc. Trying to make it sound evil and communist will not work. People who can read can find the real truth.

Australia is a land of freedom and safety. That will not change, nor do we want it to.

Wait til Lambda hits

I lived in sydney for 20 yrs ,I've lived in Japan since 2004 im glad im here