Sydney's tough Covid lockdown has been extended by at least another month after just 177 new cases were detected today in a city of more than 5million people.
The city, Australia's largest, has been under strict stay-at-home orders since late June and will now remain shut until at least August 28.
But experts have warned it could be mid-September before all measures are lifted in Sydney, while Prime Minister Scott Morrison added that snap lockdowns will be the government's go-to response for Covid outbreaks until at least Christmas.
Only then will enough Australians have been vaccinated to consider changing how the country deals with outbreaks of the virus, he added.
Australia is overseeing one of the world's slowest vaccination drives with just 16 per cent of people jabbed despite the roll-out starting in February.
Sydney's Covid lockdown has been extended until at least August 28 after just 177 Covid cases were detected Wednesday in a city of more than 5million
That is despite the country having a plentiful supply of AstraZeneca jabs, with people reluctant to take them due to confusing advice over the risk of blood clots.
Mr Morrison last-week apologised for the slow pace of the roll-out, following months of criticism.
Australia is pursuing a so-called 'zero Covid' strategy, keeping cases out of the country using strict border closures and quarantines - snuffing out outbreaks using harsh snap lockdowns each time a case escapes.
Lockdowns are only eased once Covid cases drop back to zero.
Such lockdowns have been used at least a dozen times in the last year, with the states of Victoria and South Australia easing their measures today.
The approach has left Australia with some of the lowest Covid case and death totals of any country - 33,000 cases and 918 deaths - and has allowed people to live relatively normal lives between the lockdowns.
However, it has also left tens of thousands of Australians stranded abroad with tickets home rationed and travellers asked to foot the bill of quarantining.
Coupled with a slow vaccine drive, it also means that - at a time when most developed countries are dropping lockdowns and returning to some normality - Australians are still being shut up at home.
Millions living within Australia's most-populous city will now be compelled to stay at home unless for essential business or exercise until at leas August 28
And, as Covid mutates and gets more infectious, those lockdowns are becoming more frequent with the Delta variant proving particularly difficult to contain.
In a sign that Australia's patience with the strategy is wearing thin, thousands of people took place in 'freedom' protests in some of the largest cities at the weekend.
Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane were hit by sometimes-violent protests as people demanding an end to restrictions clashed with police.
Two men in their 30s were charged in Sydney with punching a police horse, while dozens more were arrested and hundreds were fined.
Mr Morrison and New South Wales state premier Gladys Berejiklian branded the protesters 'selfish', warning at the time that demonstrations would be 'self-defeating' by causing cases to rise and dragging out lockdowns further.
Sydney's cases have risen steadily since the demonstration took place, hitting 177 on Wednesday - an extremely low total compared to most of the rest of the world, but the city's highest since March last year.
Ms Berejiklian subsequently announced that the lockdown - which was due to end Friday and has been extended twice already - would need to be extended further.
Until at least August 28, residents in greater Sydney have to stay at home unless they are going food shopping, fetching medication, or carrying out essential work.
