Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he ‘fully supports’ the move by New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT to make all overseas arrivals go into isolation as authorities scramble to contain the threat posed by the super-contagious Omicron strain of Covid-19.
Dominic Perrottet (NSW Premier) confirmed the arrival of 29 passengers on Saturday in two flights from Africa. The two planes were carrying nine people.
No matter what the outcome may be, Perrotet stated that it could be contained. The state will continue to follow its timeline for restoring freedoms.
These two cases are now being supervised in isolation. Victoria, NSW and the ACT have announced that international arrivals will now need to be tested for HIV and placed into isolation for 72-hours.
As of Sunday, Australia also prohibited the entry of nine Southern African countries – which are the sources of the new strain.
Dr Paul Griffin from Mater Health, Brisbane said that it wasn’t too soon to assess the risk of Omicron.
“I don’t believe we are back at square one,” he said. He said that many people believed this was the way this virus will continue to evolve and would keep coming up with new versions.
Scott Morrison (pictured), says he ‘fully support’ NSW, Victoria, and the ACT’s move to isolate all foreign arrivals as authorities attempt to deal with the Omicron strain from Covid-19.
At 7:45 on Saturday, two passengers from Qatar Airways landed in Sydney.
Perrotet stated that “This clearly shows that the pandemic continues.” We must be able to cope with all strains of the virus.
He said a result was expected later Sunday as to which strain was being carried by the two Covid-positive arrivals.
Mr Perrottet said the focus of the government would be to ensure vaccination continues.
‘That has been the key success here in NSW, key to ensuring that as we open up, we continue to open up safely and that is the focus of the government.
‘We need everybody in NSW to roll up their sleeves, get the booster shots and ensure people in NSW are going to stay safe.’
As well as the two arrivals in Sydney, another African arrival into the Northern Territory has also tested positive for Covid and the same testing will be done on his sample to identify its strain.
That person arrived onto a repatriation flight from South Africa on Thursday and was in isolation at the Howard Springs quarantine facility.
‘The very serious issues regarding the new variant have been moving quickly,’ said Mr Morrison.
‘We took strong action yesterday. I had good discussions with the premiers in New South Wales and Victoria, and fully support the actions they are taking.’
Mr Morrison continued: ‘It is a fast moving issue but we will continue, as we always have, sensible, balanced, guided by the best possible medical evidence and medical expert advice.
‘That is what has enabled Australia to be so successful throughout the Covid [pandemic] to be safe and to remain open.’
The Prime Minister urged people to get vaccinated against the pandemic. ‘I want to encourage it and if you’ve already had your vaccine, your second dose and it is six months, please go and get your booster shots.
‘Booster shots are very important to ensure Australia is in as strong a position as we can to deal with these sorts of issues. This is not like it was back in February and March and 2020,’ he said.
Three cases of Covid in arrivals from southern Africa are being tested to see if they are the Omicron strain
Mr Morrison added that the government now has good advice on Covid. ‘The uncertainties are not like they used to be.
‘We have good systems which have been proven which is demonstrated by one of the lowest fatality rates, strongest economies and highest vaccination rate in the world.’
He said the Australian people and the government has worked ‘to open safely and remain safely open’.
NSW recorded 185 new Covid-19 on Sunday morning, while Victoria recorded 1,061 new cases and four deaths.
Australia has closed its border to nine nations in southern Africa, which is the source of Omicron, and anyone who has already arrived from those countries must immediately undergo 14 days quarantine.
Passengers disembark off a Qantas flight after landing at Sydney Airport. Three arrivals to Australia on flights from Africa have tested positive for Covid, prompting urgent analysis of their samples amid fears they could be carrying the Omicron strain.
The Minister for Health, Greg Hunt said the government will not hesitate if more needs to be done to combat the Omicron strain.
‘Overnight international evidence came in and we took the immediate steps yesterday and will continue to do that to protect Australians,’ he said.
‘Yesterday, there were over 3,800 passengers who arrived in Australia … 54 were from southern Africa.
‘They had been there and identified in the previous 14 days across the nine countries and what we are pleased to see is that all of the orders that were issued yesterday had been put in place, actions had been taken, Border Force is implementing in states and territories and public health is supporting.’
The Northern Territory authorities as yet have no genomic sequencing in relation to the passenger’s infection strain, NT Health Minister Natasha Fyles said.
But the person has been in supervised quarantine at the national Howard Springs facility, south of Darwin, since arriving, she said.
‘So there is a very low risk to the community and we wish that person well,’ Ms Fyles said.
NT health chief Dr Charles Pain says he expects the sequencing test results for the South African case to be processed by Monday.
The passenger arrived in Darwin on Thursday and his positive virus result was confirmed on Friday evening.
United States and Europe earlier placed six countries on the red list before Australia added another three – Malawi, Mozambique and Seychelles
The new quarantine restrictions came into effect at midnight on Saturday and require all international arrivals in the three states – including fully vaccinated passengers – to be tested when they land.
The nine African nations from which entries to Australia have been banned are: South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), Seychelles and Malawi.
Dr Griffin, from the Mater Health in Brisbane, said ‘The way we’ve controlled this virus so well so far will still work, will still help us.
‘Things like masks, social distancing, ventilation will protect us from Omicron.
‘The main thing is we still don’t really know the properties of this variant, so it certainly has a large number of concerning mutations but now we have to establish what that means in terms of how infectious it is…
‘Its capability to evade our vaccines, and all of that hasn’t been established yet, so he we just need to get that information now,’ he said.
Australian citizens who have been in those nine countries can return to Australia but must stay in quarantine for 14 days.
The introduction of self-isolation rules in the three states comes only four weeks after Victoria and NSW removed hotel quarantine requirements for fully-vaccinated travellers on November 1.
The ACT ended hotel quarantine for overseas arrivals on November 12.
The Victorian health department says the new rules will apply to unvaccinated children under 12 and unaccompanied minors, along with any household contacts of the returned travellers.
All airline cabin crew arriving from overseas into NSW will also have to isolate for 14 days or until their next departure.
These rules are slightly different in Victoria with vaccinated cabin crew to isolate for 14 days if they had been to one of the nine African countries of concern.
In the 24-hour reporting period to 8pm on Saturday night, NSW recorded 185 new Covid cases, with 94.5 per cent of people aged 16+ having had one Covid vaccine dose and 92.4 per cent are fully vaccinated.
Victoria recorded 1,061 new cases and four deaths. Of those aged 12 and over, 90 per cent are fully vaccinated.
Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan on Saturday evening shut his state’s borders to South Australia in a bid to lock out the mutant new strain.
The ruling means only double-vaccinated South Australians can enter WA, where they must immediately go into quarantine for 14 days.
South Australia has also tightened its border rules following the emergence of the Variant Omicron.
International travellers, as well as people who arrive in SA from Australia’s high-risk areas will be asked to remain in quarantine for another 14 days.
Paul Kelly, Chief Medical Officer, stated that authorities are also working to track down approximately 100 Australians who have recently arrived in Australia from blacklisted countries. They will then need to be placed into quarantine for a period of two weeks.
Professor Kelly cautioned that it was premature to predict if Australia will be re-infected if the virus makes its way across the Indian Ocean.
He stated that ‘In terms ruling in or out and what else might we do, as has been clearly stated by the health minister, we will make what is necessary’ on Saturday.
“At this point, it is premature to speculate about where we may end up in Australia.
According to him, Omicron was not as well-known as other types of concerns.
“We don’t have any indications that the condition is worse or more serious, nor do we know if there are any issues with vaccines.”
Kelly stated that the information available about the variant at present was not sufficient to allow for long-term decision making.
According to the White House, President Joe Biden has been briefed about Omicron. There are growing fears over Omicron. The top US health expert, Dr Anthony Fauci stated that the president ‘wouldn’t be surprised’ if Omicron was already present in the US.
Biden is being criticized for not allowing South Africa flights to land in the US. However, senior officials in health and members of the Covid response group, Dr Fauci included, are reportedly keeping tabs on Omicron’s latest developments and in constant contact with international health officials.