Australia is in the grip of a third wave with its largest cities - Sydney and Melbourne - in lockdown along with the capital Canberra amid a slow vaccination rollout that has inoculated only 26% of people above 16 years of age.
Tougher restrictions took effect in Sydney, the epicentre of Australia's outbreak, after seven weeks of stay-home orders failed to stop the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant of the novel coronavirus.
New South Wales has reported another record daily high with 478 new locally acquired cases of Covid-19, with at least 91 of them circulating in the community for all or part of their infectious period.
Australia's most populous state also reported eight deaths, including 15-year-old Osama Suduh, who is the youngest person in Australia to die with the virus.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the transmission numbers were "disturbingly high".
"We know the vaccines are working. It is important for us all to protect our loved ones and ourselves by getting vaccinated," she said on Monday.
Escalating cases were recorded in Greenacre, Bankstown, Marylands, Guildford, Granville, Blacktown, Mount Druitt, and Yagoona, the premier said.
"These are the suburbs where the growth is continuing and we need people in those communities to just stay home," she said.
The teenager from southwest Sydney died in hospital after contracting pneumococcal meningitis, and while he contracted Covid. it was not the reason for his admission nor cause of death.
"The patient was unvaccinated for Covid but was up-to-date with his routine childhood vaccinations," Sydney Children's Hospital Randwick said in a statement on Monday.
The isolation status of 290 cases reported in the 24 hours to 8pm on Sunday remains under investigation.
The death toll is now at 56 for this outbreak which began mid-June.
All of NSW was placed under strict lockdown on Saturday for one week while Greater Sydney and surrounding regions are in lockdown until at least August 28, as the Delta strain continues to spread.
It comes as thousands of NSW police hit the streets to enforce tough new Covid regulations, with 1400 Highway Patrol officers backed by 800 Australian Defence Force soldiers.
As Greater Sydney begins its eighth week of lockdown, NSW Police Minister David Elliot said the tougher non-compliance fines up to $A5000 ($NZ5225) should help the community get the message. On Sunday police issued 500 fines "including 31 kids at a party on the beachside. So we still have got a lot of work to do", he said.
People in Greater Sydney have now been limited to exercise or shop within 5km of their home and they need a permit to travel to regional NSW, while single people in 12 LGA hotspots will need to register their "single buddies".
In newly locked down regional areas, people can only leave their home for an essential reason. Everyone must carry masks at all times, no visitors are allowed in the home unless for carers' responsibilities or for compassionate reasons, and those in a relationship.
A test and isolate payment of $A320 will also start this week for workers 17 and over who have symptoms of Covid-19 and live in government areas of concern. Overnight numerous Covid-19 exposure sites were identified at Mudgee, Orange and Bathurst.
Australia said on Sunday it had bought about 1 million doses of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine from Poland with more than half rushed to inoculate the 20- to 39-year-olds in the worst-affected suburbs of Sydney.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison downplayed suggestions that the United States did not volunteer to provide emergency supplies of coronavirus vaccines from its stockpile for Australia, one of its close allies.
"We have an excellent relationship with the United States, but you have to focus on what is in front of you and what you need to do. That is what Sydney needed," Morrison told Nine News on Monday.
LOCKDOWNS EXTENDED IN VICTORIA AND ACT
Melbourne's lockdown has been extended by two weeks and a night curfew will be reimposed, in an effort to stamp out the state's latest outbreak of the Delta variant,
Premier Daniel Andrews on Monday announced the extension, as well as a raft of tougher restrictions, after the state recorded 22 new local Covid cases, including five mystery cases.
A 9pm to 5am curfew, which was in place during the state's second wave last year, will be introduced from 11.59pm on Monday, while permits for work will be reintroduced and playgrounds will close.
Mr Andrews said the state had no choice given the number of mystery cases, illegal gatherings at the weekend and the number of children spreading the virus.
"We've seen lots of different people flouting these rules, not doing as they should, making really poor choices," he told reporters. "That is not good for anybody."
Seventeen of Monday's new cases are linked to known outbreaks, while 14 cases were in quarantine throughout their entire infectious period.
Meanwhile, Canberra's lockdown will also be extended for another two weeks as the ACT records another 19 Covid cases.
The new cases take the ACT's outbreak to 28 and include a worker at a Tuggeranong aged care centre as well as a student at Lyneham High School.
Chief Minister Andrew Barr says the lockdown will be extended for another two weeks until September 2.
"As today's figures demonstrate, the virus is active in our community. This is a serious situation. We do not want to see the numbers continue to grow and we do not want to see exponential growth."
The Greenway Views village is in lockdown after a worker did three shifts while infectious. It's the ACT's first confirmed case in a retirement village.
A student from Lyneham High School who attended the city's inner north campus for four days has tested positive. Canberra's lockdown was initially slated to end on Thursday.
- AAP and Reuters
