Australian state re-introduces strict curbs

The state of South Australia (SA) on Tuesday re-introduced widespread restrictions after new confirmed cases were reported in the community.

On Tuesday morning, authorities identified five cases linked to the current cluster in SA, reports Xinhua news agency.

In response to the new cluster, the SA government announced that the state would go into lockdown from Tuesday evening.

"We hate putting these restrictions in place but we believe we have one chance to get this right," said SA Premier Steven Marshall.

"We have no alternative but to impose some fairly heavy and immediate restrictions to come in, at 6 p.m. tonight South Australia moves into lockdown."

During the planned seven-day period, residents can only leave home for essential reasons and schools will make transition for teachers to arrange at-home learning.

It makes SA the third state subject to strict restrictions, with Victoria and the Greater Sydney area in New South Wales (NSW) currently in lockdown to prevent the spread of the Delta variant.

NSW, Australia's most populous state, on Tuesday morning reported 78 new locally acquired cases.

"Given the high number of cases in the community, restrictions have been tightened across Greater Sydney to limit transmission of the virus' highly infectious Delta strain," said the NSW health department.