Sydney records deadliest day of COVID-19 pandemic, Melbourne lockdown extended

CANBERRA/SYDNEY: Australia's biggest city of Sydney recorded its deadliest day of the COVID-19 pandemic on Monday as troops and police set up roadblocks to limit the movement of people, while Melbourne faced a nightly curfew and a further two weeks of lockdown.

Sydney, which is in its eighth week of lockdown, is the epicentre of Australia's third COVID-19 wave that threatens to push the country's A$2 trillion ($1.5 trillion) economy into its second recession in as many years. New South Wales state Premier Gladys Berejiklian said seven people in Sydney had died from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, surpassing the state's previous record daily toll from earlier this month.