![]() 'It will be difficult for some families and I respect and apologise for those difficulties,' he said. ![]() Mr Hunt acknowledged the abrupt travel changes would cause distress for families whose loved ones were left stranded overseas. 'The only place we know where there is a significant transmission and a number of these new varied cases is in South Africa,' he said. He said there was too little information about the current variant to make any long-term decisions. 'Īt this stage, to move toward speculation about where we might end up in Australia, even if it came here and we don't have it here yet, that is premature.' 'In terms of ruling in or out, what else we might do, as the Health Minister has clearly said, we will do what we need to do,' he said. The difference is that we now have strong vaccines, we have one of the highest levels of coverage in the world, we have one of the most recently vaccinated populations in the world, and we have strong public health and social measures, and we also have, most significantly, as well-prepared hospital system.'Īustralia has joined Europe and the United States and closed its borders to nine countries in southern Africa to prevent a new highly-infectious Covid strain called Omicron from spreading to the countryĬhief medical officer professor Paul Kelly warned it was too early to tell if Australia would be plunged back into lockdown if the virus made its way across the Indian Ocean. 'There are currently no known cases of the Omicron variant in Australia,' Mr Hunt said. The fifth measure is banning all flights from the nine countries for 14 days. 'Fourth, anyone who has already arrived in Australia and who has been in any of the nine countries within the past 14 days must immediately isolate themselves and be tested for Covid-19 and follow jurisdictional quarantine requirements which will require quarantine for 14 days from the time of their departure from the relevant African countries,' Mr Hunt said. Thirdly, international students and essential workers who are allowed to enter Australia via a travel bubble already established with other countries will have to quarantine if they have visited any of the nine countries in southern Africa. Secondly, Australian travellers returning from the countries will be required to undergo supervised quarantine for 14 days.Įach state will determine whether the returned travellers must quarantine in a hotel or if they are allowed to spend the fortnight at home. 'First - effective immediately, anyone who is not a citizen of Australia or their dependents, and who has been in African countries where the Omicron variant has been detected and spread within the past 14 days will not be able to enter Australia,' Mr Hunt said. ![]() They include banning non-Australian travellers from the regions, enforcing supervised quarantine for returned passengers and suspending all flights from the nine countries for two weeks. Health minister Greg Hunt announced on Saturday that five changes would be immediately implemented to flights from South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Botswana, Eswatini, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique and Seychelles. ![]() United States and Europe earlier placed six countries on the red list before Australia added another three - Malawi, Mozambique and Seychelles 'But that can change,' Mr Morrison saidīy Luke Andrews Health Reporter and James Tapsfield Political Editor and David Wilcock, Whitehall Correspondent and Joe Davies For Mailonline and Aidan Wondracz For Daily Mail Australia.On Friday, Scott Morrison said the Omicron strain was not a 'variant of concern'.EU and US bans travel from African countries on the red list.It is the first case to be detected in Europe, and suggests B.1.1.529 may already be seeded around the world.Belgian officials said the case was detected in an unvaccinated young woman who had returned from Egypt.South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Botswana, Eswatini, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique and Seychelles flagged.Australia closed its borders to nine southern Africa nations over highly-infectious Omicron Covid-19 strain.Australia slams its borders shut to Omicron-hit countries in Africa as returning Aussies will go into quarantine in bid to keep the new super-infectious variant out of the country
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