Portrait of Danny, a baker at the Persian Bakery in Merrylands.
The Delta strain has spilt over from the original Bondi outbreak, into south-west Sydney and now into parts of western Sydney. The NSW Government has now extended the hard lockdown orders, currently in place in the south-west, to places like Merrylands and more broadly to the Cumberland and Blacktown LGAs.
Overall, there were a record 136 COVID-19 cases recorded yesterday. 62 of those cases were in south-west Sydney, with 29 cases detected in western Sydney, including in Merrylands. Notably, there were also 28 cases in the more affluent eastern suburbs - nearly as many as in the west - where there has been no talk of extending the harder lockdown measures.
The Persian Bakery, on Merrylands’ main drag, specialises in Iranian food. Despite the pandemic hitting local businesses, the bakery still seems to be doing relatively well, with yesterday’s bread sold out by mid-afternoon.
Part of an ongoing series, ‘COVID-19 Diaries’.
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