Disappointment turns into despair in Australia as lockdowns and failed vaccine rollout bite

Once a bastion of Covid success, now two of the country's largest cities are under tight restrictions amid mishandled vaccine program and growing Delta outbreak

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At a press conference on Thursday morning, one day after a lockdown was extended by two weeks in Sydney and a few hours before a fifth lockdown would be declared in Melbourne, the premier of New South Wales grew flustered. One question at a time. I will get to all of them," Gladys Berejiklian said. It is not nice being shouted at."

Australians have a lot of questions. After managing the pandemic better than almost any country in the world, Australians are now watching the world open up while their own borders remain strictly closed. Meanwhile, just 10% of adults have been fully vaccinated and an outbreak of the Delta variant is slowly spreading.