Australia Plans To Deploy Additional Military Personnel To Enforce Lockdown Compliance As Coronavirus Outbreak Threatens To Spiral Out Of Control

Additional Australian military personnel may be deployed to ensure compliance with lockdown rules in Sydney, the New South Wales (NSW) state government said today (Aug 12).

Australia has been struggling to contain the spread of Delta strain that has engulfed two of its largest cities – Sydney and Melbourne. Both cities have implemented hard lockdowns to prevent the spread of infection.

NSW today reported 345 new locally acquired cases of Covid-19 and two deaths, with large numbers infectious in the community. Many neighbourhoods in NSW capital Sydney have been sealed.

Victoria state on Thursday reported 21 new locally acquired cases, up from 20 a day earlier, as 5 million residents of Melbourne, the state capital, prepare to enter a second week of lockdown.

The move to bring in troops comes even as Australian Capital Territory (ACT), the region that includes the country's capital Canberra, announced that it will go into snap lockdown lockdown after recording a locally acquired Covid-19 case for the first time in more than a year.

ACT chief minister, Andrew Barr, announced a seven-day lockdown from 5pm Thursday after a man in his 20s tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday morning.

“This is the most serious public health risk that we have faced in the territory this year,” Barr said on Thursday.

Reuters quoted a spokesperson for Defence Minister Peter Dutton as saying that NSW government has indicated it would soon formally request additional military support.

Over 500 unarmed army personnel are already helping police enforce home-quarantine orders on households in the worst-affected suburbs of Sydney.