Australia reported its first locally contracted Covid-19 death of the year on Sunday and a 2021 record 77 new cases of the virus in the state of New South Wales, which is battling an outbreak of the highly infectious Delta variant.<br /><br />State Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the numbers in and around the country's biggest city Sydney, already under a hard lockdown, are expected to rise.<br /><br />Australia has fared much better than many other developed countries in keeping its Covid-19 numbers relatively low, seeing just over 31,000 cases since the start of the pandemic and 911 deaths.<br /><br />The vaccination rollout, however, has been sluggish due to supply constraints and changing medical advice for its mainstay AstraZeneca shots.
