Sydney enters ‘scariest’ phase of pandemic as delta variant spreads, leader says
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The cluster began last week with an airport limousine driver and has grown to 36 cases, including 11 announced Thursday.
The outbreak is minuscule by global standards, but a big deal in a country that has pursued a strategy of zero transmission. The low tolerance for even single-digit daily cases has left Australians frequently caught in cycles of new restrictions every time a cluster emerges.
A slow vaccination rate is exacerbating the struggle, so that well over a year into the pandemic, Sydney, Australia’s most populous city, is grappling with reinstated limits on gatherings and movements this week just as restrictions are easing in the United States and Europe.
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Video footage shows the limo driver infecting strangers at a shopping mall and in a cafe through only fleeting contact, which scientists say proves it is possible to catch the virus simply from sharing the same airspace as an infected person.
