Australia's three most populous states of New South Wales (NSW), Victoria and Queensland have reported a total of 282 new locally acquired Covid-19 infections, with authorities struggling to quell outbreaks of the Delta variant, Reuters reports.

NSW has reported 262 fresh cases, down from the pandemic high of 319 seen on Saturday. Neighbouring Victoria has reported 11 new locally acquired coronavirus cases. Meanwhile, Queensland recorded nine new local cases,

With the highly transmissible Delta variant plaguing Australia's east coast, states have applied the "go hard, go early" snap lockdown approach, suggested by the federal government last week until at least 70 per cent of the population gets vaccinated.