Morning mail: Sydney’s ‘soft lockdown’ gamble, US ferocious fires, Australian fashion’s hidden workforce

Wednesday: NSW faces months of Covid restrictions without a tougher approach, experts say. Plus: Australia's role in promoting the Wuhan lab leak theory'

Good morning. There are calls for tougher restrictions for Sydney residents stuck in lockdown, with predictions it could drag on for a while yet. Find all the latest Covid news here in your morning mail, plus stories about the oldie-but-goodie Knightriders, and a new graphic novel to take your mind off it all.

NSW Covid restrictions will last months under a soft lockdown" approach that relies on people doing the right thing without clear guidance, a top epidemiologist says. Prof Tony Blakely says the state needs to tighten its definition of essential workers and prioritise vaccinating those people if it wants to contain the Delta variant outbreak within weeks rather than months. With the current measures, case numbers will keep bubbling along and NSW will be in a soft lockdown until vaccination numbers get high enough to upset the balance, but that could be months away," Blakely said.