Australian officials reinstated social distancing measures across greater Sydney, as they scrambled to find missing transmission links in a Covid-19 case connected to an Indian variant of the virus.

With many people expected to gather over the weekend for annual Mother's Day celebrations, the New South Wales state government restricted household gatherings to 20 guests and limited aged care facility visitors to two people per resident, according to Reuters.

Masks will be mandatory on public transport and at indoor venues. All the restrictions, which cover around 5.3 million people in the country's biggest metropolitan area, take effect at 5pm local time and are scheduled to last until Monday morning.