Australian leaders under pressure to contain COVID-19 outbreak

A woman wearing a protective face mask walks along a deserted city bridge during morning commute hours on the first day of a lockdown as the state of Victoria looks to curb the spread of a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Melbourne, Australia, July 16, 2021. REUTERS/Sandra Sanders

SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and state premiers were under increasing public pressure on Friday to get on top of a fast-growing Delta variant COVID-19 outbreak that poses the country's biggest threat in months.

The outbreak has highlighted what critics say were major flaws in Australia's pandemic response - delays in ordering vaccines, flipflopping guidance that led to widespread vaccine hesitancy, too-soft lockdowns and lax quarantine at the international border.