COVID cases in NSW have plateaued since 122 cases were recorded on Sunday, but the ease with which the Delta variant passes between people is creating huge problems in other countries experiencing similar waves at this time, even with lockdowns in place.
The Delta variant is effectively twice as infectious as the original strain. Studies indicate it causes more severe illness, and more deaths, than the original, too.
Globally, case numbers and deaths are again on the rise, the fifth time in a series of peaks and troughs recorded since the outbreak officially began in late 2019.
Asia, especially, is feeling the brunt, with surging record case numbers in Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea and Thailand, among others.
This situation is well known to Australia's politicians and top health officials as they survey the situation in Greater Sydney, and as they urge a not always compliant population to obey the rules of a lockdown that was this week extended to the end of the month, with no guarantee that will be the end of it.
There is pressure, too, on Premier Gladys Berejiklian to move to a harder lockdown than the "lockdown lite" that has seen fewer businesses closed, and more movement of people within Greater Sydney, than was permitted during Melbourne's crisis.
The "big data" patterns being crunched through contact tracing show just how quickly the virus can spread through only incidental contact.
All it took was one trip to Melbourne by three infectious and unmasked removalists driving from Sydney to re-seed the virus in Victoria.
The importance of minimising unnecessary movement is why police are monitoring traffic for signs of cars out of their registered regions.
NSW Police confirmed to the Newcastle Herald yesterday that the well-established "automated number plate recognition" system is being used to detect errant motorists.
These rooftop monitors - usually used to automatically detect unregistered vehicles, and to provide intelligence about likely occupants - are now a key part of the state's public health response.
As the authorities like to say: "You have been warned".
None of us want to be locked down.
We are not an authoritarian state.
But this is a genuine crisis, and "the science" backs common sense: the less we move about, the less the virus can spread.
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