Australia is tightening lockdown measures after it saw a spike in new COVID cases, the highest it recorded in a year. The state of Queensland announced that they are extending the COVID lockdown in Brisbane and sending soldiers to patrol Sydney to help enforce stay-at-home orders. The troops were ordered to knock on doors and ensure that lockdown measures are strictly enforced.
According to Reuters, Australia's Queensland saw 13 new COVID cases that were locally acquired, the biggest jump the country has seen in a year. The lockdown in Brisbane, the country's third largest city, was extended to Sunday after being due to be lifted on Tuesday. Queensland state Deputy Premier Steven Miles admitted, "It's starting to become clear that the initial lockdown will be insufficient for the outbreak."
Australia has reported a sluggish vaccination campaign but also reported low cases of COVID since the pandemic broke out last year. The emergence of the delta strain of the coronavirus has caused a number of Australian cities to go back and forth into lockdowns in the last months.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that the lockdowns would be "less likely" when they reach 70% vaccination rate across the board for citizens 16 and up. Right now, they have only vaccinated 19% of the eligible population. The country also plans to implement stricter rules between vaccinated and unvaccinated folks.
"If you get vaccinated, there will be special rules that apply to you. Why? Because if you're vaccinated, you present less of a public health risk," Prime Minister Morrison told the Sydney Morning Herald. "You are less likely to get the virus. You are less likely to transmit it."
Meanwhile in Berlin, Germany, thousands of anti-lockdown protesters came out to the streets to decry the government's anti-COVID measures, causing a major clash between rallyists and local police.
Authorities had banned protests, including that of the Stuttgart-based Querdenker movement, but protesters continued to file down the streets. Over 2,000 officers were deployed to disperse the crowds, but the police were "harrassed and attacked" by protesters, the Associated Press reported.
"They tried to break through the police cordon and pull out our colleagues," the Berlin police reported. The crowds traveled from Berlin's Charlottenburg neighborhood and into Tiergarten park toward the Brandenburg Gate. Later, about 600 people were detained by police. Berlin's Querdenker movement is a bipartisan anti-lockdown group composed of those who opposed vaccinations and lockdowns, as well as promoters of conspiracy theorists and right-wing extremists.
According to the Gateway Pundit, Germany now requires passports to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test to enjoy leisure activities such as going to a nightclub, dining indoors, and staying at hotels.
Red State reports that anti-lockdown protests have also sparked in France, where thousands of people have taken to the streets in place such as Paris, Nice, Strasburg, Toulouse, Marseille, and more. According to the report, videos have surfaced on Twitter showing police "roughing up people, throwing them to the ground, beating them, and dragging away those who resisted."
The intense pushback of police on protesters expressing their right to be heard is appalling, especially in countries such as Germany, which sees an average of 14 COVID deaths daily among its 83 million strong population.
