300,000 vaccines rushed to Sydney as Covid-19 outbreak spirals
SYDNEY: Australia's Prime Minister said 300,000 coronavirus vaccine doses would be rushed to Sydney, as the city struggles to bring a Delta outbreak under control.
As a citywide lockdown entered its third week, there were signs of the outbreak spiralling, with a record increase of 38 new cases in the last 24 hours.
Mr Scott Morrison said the situation in the city was "very serious" and urged the five million Sydney residents not to give in to fatigue and obey stay-at-home orders.
The outbreak has reached nearly 400 cases and is spreading quickly across the largely unvaccinated city.
Meanwhile, South Korea reported its biggest daily rise in cases and a top health official warned the numbers may nearly double by the end of this month, even as the country considers imposing a semi-lockdown in hard-hit Seoul.
The 1,275 cases in the 24 hours to midnight on Wednesday, reported by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, exceed the number of daily cases reported at the peak of the country's third wave in December.
Around 80 per cent of the 1,275 cases were recorded in the greater Seoul area. Health authorities said Seoul could meet the infections criteria for Level 4 social distancing measures today. - AFP, REUTERS
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