Australia reports first 2021 local COVID-19 death, highest case number

FILE PHOTO: A pedestrian crosses an unusually quiet street in the city centre during a lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Sydney, Australia, July 5, 2021. REUTERS/Loren Elliott

MELBOURNE (Reuters) -Australia reported its first locally contracted COVID-19 death of the year on Sunday and a 2021 record 77 new cases of the virus in the state of New South Wales, which is battling an outbreak of the highly infectious Delta variant.

State Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the numbers in and around the country's biggest city Sydney, already under a hard lockdown, are expected to rise.