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Prime Minister Scott Morrison used Tuesday's national cabinet to urge state and territory leaders to stick to their reopening plans, despite Omicron raising anxieties about the virus.

Australia will continue its path towards a Christmas reopening while health authorities gather more information about the new strain.

Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly told the state and territory heads it would be up to two weeks before there was enough information to paint a clear picture about the variant's threat.

But he said there was no evidence vaccines were less effective.

Mr Morrison stressed he is not "spooked" by Omicron, insisting the new COVID-19 strain would not put Australia back into lockdown.

"We're not going back to lockdowns, none of us want that," he said.

All international travellers arriving in NSW and Victoria will need to quarantine for 72 hours and take a COVID-19 test regardless of their vaccination status.

A second test must be taken on day six after arriving in NSW and between days five and seven in Victoria as the states continue their cautious approach to dealing with the new Omicron variant.

All travellers entering NSW from eight southern African nations, or nine in the case of Victoria, will need to quarantine for 14 days.

Visa holders, who were set to be allowed into Australia on December 1, will now have to wait until December 15 to enter the country without an exemption.

The prime minister said a two-week pause on the next stage of Australia's reopening plan was sensible in order for health experts to assess the risk posed by the new variant.

Omicron had also delayed travel bubble arrangements for citizens from Japan and South Korea.

The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation is examining whether to recommend booster COVID-19 shots sooner in light of the variant.

They are currently recommended for six months after a second vaccine dose.

Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said Omicron would lead to new challenges in Australia.

"It's very early days and the world is yet to have a complete understanding of it, we need to know more about it," she told parliament.

"(The two-week pause) was not a decision the government took lightly...we took this decision based on the health advice."

Health Minister Greg Hunt stressed the Omicron variant could be managed.

"All of this is done on the presumption that we will recommence from December 15, but medical advice will guide our decision making throughout," he said.

The latest vaccine figures revealed an additional 95,000 doses were administered on Monday.

It took the total population over 16 being fully vaccinated to 87 per cent, while 92.4 per cent have had their first dose.

More than 430,000 people have received their booster dose.

Victoria has reported 918 new daily infections and six more deaths.

NSW recorded 179 additional cases and three more deaths on Tuesday.

There were six new cases in the ACT.

© AAP 2021

Genomic sequencing has confirmed a woman infected with coronavirus who flew into Sydney last week carried the Omicron variant into the community with her.

The woman, aged in her 30s, is the fifth person in the state confirmed with the new virus strain.

The fully vaccinated woman arrived on flight QR908 from Doha on Thursday last week and travelled by private car to the Central Coast.

Everyone on that flight is considered a close contact who need to get tested immediately and isolate for two weeks.

Two more people on that flight have already been confirmed to have the virus and neither of them had been in southern Africa.

Urgent genomic testing is underway to see if they have the Omicron variant.

A third case from that flight who has tested positive is believed to have a different, earlier variant of the virus, but is awaiting genomic confirmation in Broken Hill.

While the four people who had tested positive for Omicron after arriving from overseas on the weekend have been quarantined, the woman was able to leave the airport after arriving on Thursday last week before the rules were changed.

She visited several supermarkets, shopping centres and restaurants in Sydney and the Central Coast on Friday and Saturday before NSW Health directed recent arrivals from a number of countries in southern Africa into isolation.

She's now isolating at home on the Central Coast.

People who were at a number of locations at the same time as the woman on Friday and Saturday are casual contacts who should immediately get tested and isolate until they receive a negative result.

People who return a negative result are encouraged to get tested again if symptoms develop.

NSW Health has listed numerous shops the woman visited in Westfield Parramatta, as well as a supermarket at Top Ryde.

She also visited a grocer and two fast food restaurants in Wyong and North Wyong on Friday night, as well as a Wadalba supermarket.

On Saturday afternoon she visited another supermarket at Toukley.

People using QR codes to check into venues via the ServiceNSW app can find case alerts in their check-in history.

Health Minister Brad Hazzard said the woman "came in before the new arrangements ... so she has been out in the community and (NSW) Health is now investigating that".

"She has essentially been out in the Central Coast area," he told Seven News.

NSW recorded 179 new cases of COVID-19 and there were three COVID deaths recorded in the 24 hours until 8pm on Monday, ending a four-day run of zero deaths.

The latest COVID deaths include a western Sydney man in his 40s with underlying health conditions who died at Nepean Hospital.

A man in his 50s died at Tamworth Base Hospital and a woman in her 60s died at St Vincent's Hospital.

NSW Health said 62,166 tests were conducted in the past day.

Some 94.6 per cent of people aged 16 and older have had one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while 92.5 per cent are fully jabbed.

More than 81 per cent of teens aged 12-15 have had one dose of a vaccine, while 76.7 per cent of them have had two doses.

There are 160 people in hospital with COVID-19, 26 are in ICU and 11 are ventilated.

© AAP 2021

Scott Morrison has stressed he is not "spooked" by the Omicron variant, insisting the new COVID-19 strain would not put Australia back into lockdown.

The prime minister said a two-week pause on the next stage of Australia's reopening plan was sensible in order for health experts to assess the risk posed by the new variant.

Visa holders, which were set to be allowed into Australia on December 1, will now have to wait until December 15 to enter the country without an exemption.

Omicron had also delayed travel bubble arrangements for citizens from Japan and South Korea.

Federal, state and territory leaders will meet later on Tuesday afternoon for an urgent national cabinet meeting to discuss the Omicron variant.

"We have taken sensible precautions for a two-week pause for the next steps," Mr Morrison told question time on Tuesday

"As we continue to face these new variants of concern, and it is a variant of concern, we've dealt with many before."

The prime minister said it was crucial state and territory leaders stick to their reopening plan, despite the Omicron variant raising anxieties about the virus.

"We're not going back to lockdowns, none of us want that," Mr Morrison said.

"What we did last night was protecting against that, by having a sensible pause."

The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation is also examining whether to recommend booster COVID-19 shots sooner in light of the variant.

They are currently recommended for six months after a second vaccine dose.

Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said Omicron would lead to new challenges in Australia.

"It's very early days and the world is yet to have a complete understanding of it, we need to know more about it," she told parliament.

"(The two-week pause) was not a decision the government took lightly...we took this decision based on the health advice."

Health Minister Greg Hunt stressed the Omicron variant was one that would be able to be managed.

"All of this is done on the presumption that we will recommence from December 15, but medical advice will guide our decision making throughout," he said.

Leaders at national cabinet will receive updates on Omicron, with the prime minister set to inform state and territory leaders about actions taken by the federal government on the variant.

Mr Morrison said he wanted to ensure leaders were "on the same page" about Omicron.

It comes as the latest vaccine figures revealed an additional 95,000 doses were administered on Monday.

It took the total population over 16 being fully vaccinated to 87 per cent, while 92.4 per cent have had their first dose.

More than 430,000 people have received their booster dose.

Victoria has reported 918 new daily infections and six more deaths.

NSW recorded 179 additional cases and three more deaths on Tuesday.

There were six new cases in the ACT.

© AAP 2021