Army to be deployed and police checkpoints set up to enforce Sydney lockdown

Thousands of police swept into Sydney today as the army will come in next week to help enforce its "Zero Covid" lockdown strategy.

Police were sent to the city centre to hand out Â£264 ($500 Australian) to those not wearing a mask.

Ministers had tried to eliminate all cases through isolation and closed borders, but with only 17 per cent of adults vaccinated there are concerns about how fast the virus is spreading.

Up to 1,300 cops swarmed Sydney, setting up a network of roadblocks to avoid a repeat of last week's violent anti-lockdown protest.

At least 250 fines were issued across the city today, and one man was arrested after travelling on trains outside his local government area without a reasonable excuse.

Drivers get stopped at a check point by police in Sydney ( Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Some 300 army personnel will help police go door-to-door to ensure people who have tested positive are isolating starting from next week.

New South Wales police commissioner Mick Fuller told a news conference: "The sheer volume of increase over the last week, the level of compliance has gone from hundreds into thousands."

It comes after Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced a four-stage plan back to freedom but said 80 per cent of adults need to be vaccinated before the border can re-open.

The current lockdown - which is in place until at least August 28 - only allows people to leave their homes for essential exercise, shopping, caregiving and other reasons.

Despite five weeks of lockdown, the virus continues to spread in the nation's largest city. Officials recorded 170 new cases on Friday.

Sydney's five million people are under a strict stay-at-home order because nearly 3,000 infections have been recorded since the middle of June.

Authorities have this week outlined even tighter restrictions to curb the spread in the worst-affected suburbs, including mandatory testing and mask-wearing outdoors.

About two million people live in these suburbs and are largely made up of critical workers and large family groups in the city's poorer and ethnically diverse areas, the BBC reports.

The current lockdown is meant to last until August 28 ( Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Steve Christou, one local mayor, told SBS : "Our people are one of the poorest demographics, and as it is, they already feel picked on and marginalised.

"They can't afford to pay the mortgage, the rent, the food or work. Now to throw out the army to enforce lockdown on the streets is going to be a huge issue to these people."

The military personnel will not be armed and will be under police command, he added.

Australia had been hailed as an example at the start of the pandemic for its handling of the Coivd-19 crisis - with just over 34,000 cases and fewer than 1,000 deaths.

However, the Delta variant has spread like wildfire, testing the progress that has been made in curbing the threat of the virus.

Australia is sticking to its Zero Covid strategy while its vaccine rollout is lagging compared to other countries that are reopening with high vaccine rates.

Sydney's latest increase of cases has been traced back to an unmasked, unvaccinated airport driver who got infected last month.

Since then, Australia's biggest city has reported 13 deaths.