Sydney’s two-week lockdown has been extended for another week due to the vulnerability of a part of Australian population that remains unvaccinated against Covid-19, officials have said.

“The situation we’re in now is largely because we haven’t been able to get the vaccine that we need,” New South Wales state Health Minister Brad Hazzard has said.

The decision to extend the lockdown through July 16 has been made on health advice, state Premier Gladys Berejiklian has said.

“The reason why we’ve extended the lockdown is because a number of cases are still infectious in the community and we extended the lockdown to give [ourselves] the best chance of not having another lockdown,” Berejiklian has said.

The extension of the lockdown, which covers Australia’s largest city and some nearby communities, means most children will not return to school next week following their midyear break.

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