COVID-19 lockdowns

China’s factories creep back to life as Covid curbs ease

The contraction gripping China's manufacturing sector slowed in May, data showed Tuesday, as some factories gradually resumed work after the easing of strict Covid lockdowns.

The Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) -- a key gauge of manufacturing activity -- edged up to 49.6, officials said, from April's 47.4, which was the worst reading since early 2020.

Researchers: Harm from Lockdowns is Proven and should be Banned during Pandemics

U.S. researchers have identified irrefutable evidence of lockdown damage and the urgent need to ban it during a pandemic.

According to researchers at Johns Hopkins University, the restrictions imposed in the spring of 2020 due to the coronavirus had little effect on mortality in the United States and Europe but led to serious economic and social damage.

Sydney ends coronavirus lockdown after 106 days

Elated Sydneysiders celebrated the end of almost four months of coronavirus lockdown on Oct. 11, putting behind them a period of "blood, sweat and no beers" in Australia's largest city.

Sydney's more than five million residents were subjected to a 106-day lockdown, designed to limit the march of the highly transmissible Delta variant.

Australia’s capital Canberra to enter virus lockdown

Australia's capital Canberra was ordered into a seven-day lockdown on Aug. 12, after a single COVID-19 case was detected in the city that has largely avoided virus restrictions.

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About 400,000 people in the nation's political hub will be under stay-at-home orders from 5:00 pm local time, joining millions more already under lockdown in Australia's southeast.

Sydney police call for military to enforce lockdown

Police in Australia's largest city have requested military help to enforce a coronavirus lockdown as infections in Sydney reached a new record on July 29. 

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Commissioner Mick Fuller said New South Wales police had asked for 300 Australian Defence Force personnel to be deployed "to boost its operational footprint".

Melbourne to lift virus lockdown as Delta outbreak contained

Melbourne's coronavirus lockdown will be lifted late on July 27, as authorities signalled a Delta variant outbreak in Australia's second-biggest city had been contained.

Neighbouring South Australia state will also ease stay-at-home rules, but the country's largest city Sydney was facing a likely extension to a lockdown now in its fifth week.

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