Flights from nine countries in southern Africa are suspended and arrivals who have been in the region will be forced into mandatory quarantine, as Australia scrambles to respond to a "concerning" new variant of COVID-19
There are no known cases of the Omicron strain in Australia yet, but Health Minister Greg Hunt on Saturday said precautionary measures were needed.
Flights from South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, the Seychelles, Malawi and Mozambique will cease for two weeks.
Non-citizens who have been in those countries aren't allowed into Australia.
Australian citizens and their dependents face mandatory two-week quarantine if they have been in the region.
The new variant, named Omicron by the World Health Organisation on Saturday, has been detected in South Africa, Botswana, Hong Kong, Israel, Belgium and the United Kingdom.
It has double the number of mutations as the Delta variant that sparked a third wave of outbreaks and lockdowns in Australia this year.
Several states have tightened measures in response to the possible risk.
In NSW, arrivals who have been overseas recently - not just in southern Africa - will need to isolate at home for 72 hours.
People already in the state who have been in the nine countries in the past two weeks must isolate for 14 days and be immediately tested.
These travellers must quarantine until 11.59pm Tuesday November 30.
Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said Omicron was spreading quickly, but it wasn't clear that it caused more severe symptoms than existing strains.
It is not yet known whether existing vaccines are any less effective against the new variant than prevailing strains.
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