Sydney, Australia's largest city, in two-week hard COVID-19 lockdown

Transport workers sit together on a train platform devoid of passengers at Central Station in the city centre as the City of Sydney and three adjacent local government areas begin a week-long lockdown to curb an outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Sydney, Australia, June 26, 2021. REUTERS/Loren Elliott

MELBOURNE (Reuters) -Sydney and some surrounding areas will enter a hard two-week COVID-19 lockdown on Saturday as authorities struggle to control a fast-spreading outbreak of the highly infectious Delta variant that has grown to 80 cases.

Parts of Sydney, Australia's biggest city, were already under lockdown due to the outbreak, but health authorities said cases and exposure sites were increasing too rapidly.