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.

Officials reported 103 new cases on Friday, the bulk in Sydney with the remainder in Melbourne, taking total cases since the current outbreak began a month ago to above 1,000. Two people have died, 75 people are hospitalized with 18 in intensive care.

Not a huge number on a world scale, it was a sharp turnaround for a country that had experienced only small, localized flare-ups for several months.

From Friday, 40 percent of the country's 25 million people — across Sydney, the outbreak epicenter, and the state of Victoria — were living under some form of lockdown conditions.

Of major concern to health officials is the fact that the proportion of people out in public while infectious remains stubbornly high despite Sydney residents heading into a fourth week of lockdown.

"I can't stress to the community my absolute concern that we need to work harder at reducing mobility and reduce our interactions with others," New South Wales Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said.

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