Source: The New Daily
The COVID blues are once again ravaging Australian retailers after half the country entered a lockdown and forced major brands to shutter stores.
Residents in Sydney, Perth, Brisbane and Darwin are now being forced to stay home to combat a worsening virus outbreak, in what economists are predicting will cost the economy $2.5 billion over just two weeks.
And in a costly case of COVID deja vu, outdoor retail chain Kathmandu warned it will take a $13 million hit from the latest lockdowns on Monday, with 123 stores across Australia forced to close over the past month.
Group chief executive and managing director Michael Daly said the company will also miss its sales targets.
June 28, 2021
Covid’s D-Day.
Huy Truong
From London to New York and Hong Kong, the Delta coronavirus variant has emerged as a potential wild card that threatens to upend plans for returning to pre-pandemic normality.
In Europe and North America, the rapid spread of the highly transmissible variant first identified in India has placed a question mark over hopes for a normal summer, even as climbing vaccination rates spur the rolling back of restrictions and resumption of tourism and travel.
In the Asia-Pacific region, the variant is fuelling outbreaks in countries that have struggled to manage the virus, while reinforcing the hyper-cautious stance of zero-Covid economies reliant on strict border controls, which have prevented countless deaths but have also come under mounting criticism as other parts of the world look towards post-pandemic life.
Share on Twitter
As Sydney plunges into its first lockdown since December, experts say they hope the harsh restrictions may encourage Australians who are hesitant about vaccinations to roll up their sleeves.
Residents across Greater Sydney - including the Blue Mountains, the Central Coast, Wollongong and Shellharbour - have been placed under stay-at-home orders that are expected to be lifted on 9 July.
READ MORE
The new restrictions come as Darwin, Palmerston and Litchfield go into full lockdown for 48 hours after there were four new cases linked to the Northern Territory mine cluster; and as new lockdown restrictions are imposed on the Perth and Peel regions for three days after a traveller returned from Sydney with COVID-19.
Labor think tank: Temporary work visas crush wage growth macrobusiness.com.au - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from macrobusiness.com.au Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.