Direct flights from nine southern African countries will be suspended immediately
, Health Minister Greg Hunt said in a press conference on Saturday. The countries are SA, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, the Seychelles, Malawi and Mozambique.
The travel restrictions come after the World Health Organisation said that a strain of coronavirus first detected in Southern Africa, now known as omicron, poses a threat that could confound countries’ efforts to slow the spread of Covid-19. Scientists say the variant carries a high number of mutations in its spike protein, which plays a key role in the virus’s entry into cells in the body.
Hunt said that people who have arrived in Australia in the past 14 days from the nine countries under travel restrictions must get tested immediately and isolate for two weeks. “Things are still being monitored in relation to this particular variant,” said Australia’s Chief Medical Officer, Paul Kelly.
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