Australian government suspends flights to African countries with Omicron variant

Health Minister Greg Hunt says Australia will be taking “five actions immediately” to stop the emerging Omicron variant including suspending flights from nine nations with the strain. Mr Hunt said any person who is not an Australian citizen or a dependent and had been in an African country “where the Omicron variant had been detected and spread” in the past 14 days will not be allowed entry. “These countries are South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, the Seychelles, Malawi, and Mozambique,” Mr Hunt said. Mr Hunt said those who were Australian citizens and dependents will need to go into “immediate supervised quarantine” for 14 days. Skilled migrants and international students who had been in countries with the Omicron variant will also need to quarantine. Mr Hunt said anyone who had been to these areas in the past 14 days will need to quarantine and undergo a COVID-19 test. He also said flights from those nine countries will be suspended by the government for 14 days “as a matter of precaution”. Mr Hunt said the five actions will be “taken on the basis of cautious prevention” and there are no known cases of the variant in Australia.

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