Omicron variant+ Follow StoryHealth officials said Sunday they had detected the Covid Omicron strain in Australia for the first time in two passengers who were tested after flying into Sydney from southern Africa. Both passengers came from southern Africa and arrived in Australia on a Qatar Airways flight via Doha, NSW Health said in a statement. They tested positive for Covid shortly after arriving, leading to an urgent analysis for possible infection by the heavily mutated Omicron strain. — AFPAustralia bans flights from nine southern African countries on Saturday, tightening its borders to prevent the entry of the new Covid-19 Omicron variant. — AFPThe EU health agency warns that the Omicron variant poses a "high to very high" risk to Europe, The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) notes in a threat assessment report that there was still "considerable uncertainty related to the transmissibility, vaccine effectiveness, risk for reinfections and other properties of the Omicron variant."

Source: Philippine Star November 28, 2021 08:02 UTC