Australia’s covid-19 strategy is being tested

TO SYDNEYSIDERS, most of whom have lived freely throughout the pandemic, it feels as if the virus has just got going. They are in the midst of their worst outbreak since the spring of 2020. It began last month when an infected man wandered through a mall in Sydney’s beach-fringed eastern suburbs. After four weeks of lockdown, the city of 5m is now recording just over 100 new infections a day. By Australia’s previously low rates, that is no joke.

Even with curbs on travel, the virus has leaked into rural towns and across state borders. Victoria has been plunged into its fifth lockdown to confront an outbreak of more than 140 active cases. South Australia issued stay-at-home orders on July 20th, after a man who caught the virus in Sydney infected several others. Over half of Australia’s 25m people are now locked down.

Many Australians point the finger at Gladys Berejiklian, the Liberal (meaning conservative) premier of New South Wales. They blame her for not immediately shutting down Sydney when the first case was detected there. Her government has relied on contact-tracing to quash past outbreaks. But its teams were unable to keep up with the more transmissible Delta variant. Ms Berejiklian is accused of acting too little, too late.

The Lucky Country, which basked in praise for keeping covid-19 out by promptly...