Sydney’s month-long lockdown will be extended by at least another four weeks, with Australian authorities failing to flatten an outbreak of daily Covid-19 cases that on Wednesday surged to another record.

New South Wales state Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the lockdown has been extended until at least August 28. The restrictions began on June 26, when 12 new cases were recorded in the local community. The city’s outbreak has since swelled -- fueled by the spread of the highly-contagious delta variant -- with 177 more cases recorded on Wednesday, she told reporters.

In a bid to relieve pressure on businesses and workers in New South Wales, Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Wednesday announced more federal funding for smaller businesses impacted by the lockdown to reach as much as A$100,000 ($74,000) a week, along with increased welfare payments for lower-income workers who have lost salaries. His government is now spending about A$750 million a week on support for the state, he said.

“We have to push through this lockdown in Sydney,” Morrison told reporters in Canberra, adding that an increasing vaccination rate may mean that stay-at-home orders due to outbreaks won’t be needed by the end of the year. “There is no other shortcut, there is no other way through. We have to just hunker down.”

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