Five people in Sydney, Australia’s largest city, have contracted the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 locally, New South Wales (NSW) health authorities confirmed yesterday.
The cases are linked to two schools and a climbing gym in Sydney’s western suburbs, which might also be the source of a confirmed Omicron infection in the Australian Capital Territory, NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said.
Parliament House in Canberra was closed over the weekend to the public until further notice after a staffer to a member of parliament tested positive to COVID-19 after the legislature’s final sitting week of the year on Friday.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Urgent genome testing is under way for a number of other cases linked to the venues and should be available in coming days, Chant said in a video update.
New South Wales state has confirmed 15 Omicron infections and more are likely, she said.
The outbreak was seeded from infected travelers on a flight from Doha who had been in southern Africa.
The Omicron variant, first identified in southern Africa, has been detected in countries from the US to South Korea, underscoring the difficulties of curtailing contagious new strains.
Researchers worldwide are racing to understand the full impact of the new strain, and governments have banned travelers from South Africa and nearby countries on concerns that Omicron could evade the protection of vaccines and fuel new surges.
South Australia state on Saturday increased restrictions for international travelers over Omicron fears, requiring all arrivals to quarantine for 14 days, not just those from southern Africa. Travelers arriving from Australia’s southeastern states will need to test on arrival and isolate until a negative result is received, South Australia Premier Steven Marshall said.
South Australian authorities are “extraordinarily concerned” about the outbreak in Sydney and the case in the capital territory, but would keep its border open at this stage, Marshall told reporters on Saturday.
“We don’t know enough about the Omicron variant at this stage,” he said after a meeting with officials to discuss closing the border.
Omicron is “here in Australia,” he said. “It’s contained to this point, but we could receive further information in the coming days that it is no longer contained.”
Meanwhile, Australia’s medicine regulator provisionally approved the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children age five to 11, with Australian Minister of Health Greg Hunt saying the rollout could begin from Jan. 10.
The Australian Therapeutics Goods Administration “have made a careful, thorough assessment, determined that it is safe and effective and that it is in the interests of children and Australians for children five to 11 to be vaccinated,” Hunt said.
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