Covid Australia latest: Omicron could cause travel chaos for Australians ahead of Xmas
State border closures and restrictions due to Omicron could cause headaches for Aussie Xmas travellers, as a date is about to be set for Covid vaccines for children.
National
Don't miss out on the headlines from National. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Australians hoping to travel interstate for Christmas could have their plans thrown into disarray as state and territory leaders consider closing their borders.
Restrictions have been reintroduced in a number of states due to the emergence of the Omicron variant, which has now been detected in NSW and the ACT.
There is also a suspected case in Queensland.
The strain, which was first identified in southern Africa last week, has raised the alarm over the vaccines efficacy against new variants.
Queensland and WA have thrown their hard border back up to South Australia as a precaution. Arrivals from Adelaide will be required to go into home or hotel quarantine for 14 days.
Meanwhile, South Australian Premier Steven Marshall announced people from NSW, Victoria and ACT must be tested on arrival and isolate until they receive a negative result. They will also need to get another test on day six of their stay.
Mr Marshall indicated a return to a hard border before Christmas was a possibility.
“It may become necessary. I hope it doesn't,” he told reporters.
“We would only do that if we wanted to make sure that we still enjoy a Christmas here in SA. This is a balancing act.”
Queensland Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said she would have “more to say” about the planned opening of the border to NSW and Victoria on Monday.
So what does this mean for Christmas travel plans?
Australia’s chief medical officer Paul Kelly has said he is confident the nation’s high vaccination will limit the spread of Covid-19 over the Christmas holiday period.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Professor Kelly said he would not take a decision to recommend border closures lightly.
“Closing borders is a big decision. It’s a decision for government not taken lightly,” Professor Kelly said.
“We have all the other measures in place – test, trace and isolate – the public health and social measures, all of those matters we have and crucially, the vaccine, and we are one of the most vaccinated nations in the world right now.”
He also warned Australians to prepare for the Omicron variant to overtake Delta as the dominant strain across the world but added there was no evidence to suggest an increase in severity.
“This will spread around the world quite quickly. I suspect within the next few months Omicron will be the new virus in the world,“ Professor Kelly said.
“We have no evidence at the moment that the vaccine does not work, and as far as we know, the vaccine works against this new virus.”
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has put a pause on Australia’s reopening plan until December 15.
Existing arrangements will continue for Australians, permanent residents, immediate family (including parents) and other exempt visa holders including travellers through the New Zealand and Singapore travel bubbles.
COVID VACCINES FOR KIDS COMING ‘IN JANUARY’
Covid-19 vaccines are expected to be rolled out for Australian children from early January once regulators gives the Pfizer shot their approval.
Australia is set to become one of the first countries in the world to authorise the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine for five to 11-year-olds, following Israel and the United States.
The European Union will also begin rolling out the Pfizer vaccine for children in this age group from next week.
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said the Therapeutic Goods Administration was likely to approve the vaccine for younger children in coming days after reviewing health and safety data.
ATAGI, Australia’s expert immunisation advisory body, will then provide advice on the vaccine in what would be the final tick of approval.
“I’m hopeful within the next week we’ll have a decision from the TGA, and there are no red flags at this stage,” Mr Hunt said.
“It’s heading in a positive direction, but they genuinely are fully independent.
“And they’ll provide that advice, ATAGI will then provide their response, and we’re hopeful that if we’ve got two green lights we would commence the children’s paediatric doses in the first part of January.”
The TGA has received data from Pfizer’s clinical trials of its vaccine in the young children and it has also been watching the early rollouts in Israel and the US.
Australia is anticipated to follow those two countries in authorising a 10-microgram dose of Pfizer for five to 11-year-olds, which is one-third of the dose given to those aged 12 and older.
Nine newspapers have reported the first shipment of the five million children’s doses is expected to arrive in Australia before Christmas and will be batch-tested by the TGA early in the new year.
Mr Hunt said Australian medical regulators were also reviewing the use of the Moderna vaccine for booster doses, with an announcement expected before Christmas.
Moderna last month submitted health and safety data to the TGA on the use of its Covid-19 vaccine in children aged between six and 11, which the medicines regulator is currently reviewing.
Mr Hunt said the world was making rapid progress on assessing the Novavax protein vaccine, which is yet to be approved in any country.
“I’m very hopeful there may be the first international approval over the course of the next week, and that Australia is in a very similar time frame,” he said.
“We might see some positive news before Christmas.”
On Friday, 87.9 per cent of Australians over the age of 16 were double-dose vaccinated against the virus, while 92.8 per cent had received at least one shot.
Teenagers aged 12 to 15 have been vaccinated at a rapid rate since becoming eligible, with 76.6 per cent now fully vaccinated and 67.5 having had at least one dose
MORE COVID DEATHS IN VICTORIA
Covid-related deaths in Victoria have continued to grow as the state recorded 1365 more virus cases with NSW figures steady despite another death.
On Saturday, Victoria recorded 1365 new Covid-19 cases and nine deaths, with more than 91 per cent of the state fully vaccinated.
Yesterday, there were 1188 new cases of community transmission and 11 people lost their lives.
NSW has recorded 325 cases of Covid-19 and one more death.
The daily figures remain relatively stable despite concerns over a new variant.
There are 139 people in hospital with Covid-19 across NSW, including 25 patients in intensive care.
There were 337 new cases recorded on Friday and one of them, a student at Regents Park Christian School in western Sydney, was found to have the Omicron strain.
NT RECORDS FIRST COVID-RELATED DEATH
The Northern Territory has recorded its first Covid-related death since the pandemic began.
A woman in her 70s from the Binjari Indigenous community near Katherine died at the Royal Darwin Hospital on Thursday night.
The Indigenous woman had been in the RDH for the last couple of weeks.
She was unvaccinated.
It is the first Covid-related death in the Territory since the pandemic began, and the first death associated with the Darwin-Katherine-Robinson River cluster.
The outbreak has become the Territory’s largest, with 60 confirmed cases as of Thursday.
NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner took to social media to express his sympathies to the Binjari community.
“The staff of RDH did all they could to care for her, and I know they are also feeling it right now,” he said.
“I extend my thanks and sympathy to them as well.
“Unfortunately her condition deteriorated rapidly yesterday.”
Mr Gunner said the tragic death was a reminder of the severity of Covid-19 and urged Territorians to get vaccinated against the virus
VICTORIA RECORDS 11 MORE COVID DEATHS
Victoria recorded 1188 new Covid-19 cases and 11 more deaths on Friday as health authorities warn the Omicron variant “of concern” could have already leaked into the state.
There are 289 infected Victorians in hospital, with 43 in intensive care and 22 on a ventilator.
More than 91 per cent of eligible Victorians are now fully vaccinated.
Health Minister Martin Foley said while the new variant had not yet been found in the state, he flagged there was a high possibility it was already here.
“We would’‘t be surprised, given the arrangements that we’ve seen in NSW and around the globe, that it might well be ticking along out there at the moment, but there’s been no cases reported so far,” he said on Thursday.
Premier Daniel Andrews said he believed a third dose of the vaccine would be critical in fighting new variants.
He said despite the rise in new cases, there were less hospital admissions.
“We’re still doing that work to firm up our view that while this is much more transmissible, it’s much more infectious, it moves more quickly, it is presenting relatively mildly,” Mr Andrews said.
“Given the speed at which it moves, it may well replace the Delta variant, and if it does produce more mild disease, then that’s not a bad thing.
“We just have to have all of that confirmed.”
NSW RECORDS 337 NEW COVID CASES
NSW has recorded 337 new cases of Covid-19 and no new deaths after an eighth traveller was found to have the Omicron variant.
There are now 140 people in hospital, including 25 in intensive care.
Of the population aged 16 and over, 94.6 per cent have had one dose of the vaccine, while 92.6 are fully vaccinated.
There were 80,930 tests on Thursday.
It comes as NSW Health confirmed another traveller tested positive to the Omicron strain of the virus, becoming the eighth person in NSW.
The person arrived on flight SQ231 from Singapore to Sydney on Sunday, November 28, and is fully vaccinated.
They had recently been in southern Africa and have been in hotel quarantine since landing in Australia.
“NSW Health is requesting every person who was on flight SQ231 from Singapore to Sydney on 28 November to immediately get their first COVID-19 PCR test if not already completed and isolate until they receive a negative result,” NSW Health said on Thursday night.
“Under the public health order, they are also required to get a Covid-19 PCR test on day six after arriving in NSW.”
New Omicron case confirmed in NSW pic.twitter.com/8kTofbf09G
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) December 2, 2021
Authorities confirmed one of the Omicron cases in the state was a child who was too young to be vaccinated.
NSW Health confirmed the child was staying with their fully vaccinated parents at the Mantra apartments in Chatswood, sparking a seven-day alert from November 23 to 30.
Anyone who was at the venue on those dates is considered a casual contact and must immediately get tested and isolate until receiving a negative result.
The family arrived on flight QR908 from Doha to Sydney on November 23 and is now isolating in special health accommodation.
While the child is confirmed to be infected with Omicron, urgent genomic sequencing is under way to determine which strain the parents have contracted.
“These travellers have not been in southern Africa and NSW Health is concerned transmission may have occurred on this flight,” NSW Health said.
NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard revealed Covid swabs were being sent back to the lab to make sure they had no traces of Omicron.
WA CLOSES BORDER WITH SA, FORMER PREMIER ‘TOO SICK TO TALK’
Western Australia will close its border with South Australia on Friday after the state recorded a jump in new Covid cases.
SA’s border reopened to interstate travellers that are fully vaccinated on November 23 but has seen cases rise since.
WA Premier Mark McGowan on Thursday raised SA’s travel risk to medium, meaning travellers are banned from WA unless they have an exemption.
“Obviously, what’s occurred there is quite concerning,” Mr McGowan said.
“What we’ve done differently to South Australia is we’ve waited to higher levels of vaccination before such time as we lifted our border arrangements and that’s a safety measure to keep people safe to ensure we avoid further lockdowns and social measures, and get the West Australian community through Christmas and through the New Year period.”
Meanwhile, SA has changed border restrictions for anyone entering from NSW.
People coming from NSW will have to test on arrival.
“This is another way that we will be protecting ourselves,” SA Premier Steven Marshall said.
“What I can say is we’ll be monitoring the situation, particularly in NSW, extraordinarily carefully. We have been looking at it daily.”
South Australia has recorded 18 new Covid-19 cases and this is expected to increase as a cluster linked to a school reunion at Norwood’s Theatre Bugs venue on Saturday grows.
The Norwood cluster rocketed from two with another 16 confirmed for a total of 18. In addition to these 16 new cases who were all fully vaccinated, two unrelated interstate arrivals tested positive.
Former premier Jay Weatherill is among the cases linked to the Norwood reunion.
The Adelaide Advertiser requested an interview with Mr Weatherill, who texted the reporter to say he was “too sick” to talk.
Mr Weatherill, who was SA Premier from 2011 to 2018, had lunch with Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas and former Attorney-General John Rau at an Italian restaurant on Monday.
Mr Malinauskas said that when he heard news Mr Weatherill had tested positive, “I immediately left parliament at 8.20pm and went to Victoria Park to get tested.”
“I will isolate while I await the test results and further advice from SA Health.”
GOLD COAST ON ALERT
The Gold Coast is on high alert after a locally acquired Covid case was detected in the area, after being out in the community for three days.
The new case, a fully vaccinated man, was reported on Wednesday afternoon but was included in Thursday’s official Covid figures.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk told parliament on Thursday it is “unlikely” the man has the new Omicron variant, but further testing was underway.
“Our public health authorities are investigating whether this case is somehow linked to the previous cases we have seen on the Gold Coast recently, or a new outbreak,” she said.
“Either way, it could indicate we have had undetected community transmission in and around the Gold Coast for some time.”
It comes as “high risk” workers and teachers in Queensland will soon have to get a Covid-19 vaccine or face losing their jobs under new rules to be announced.
Queensland is set to bring itself into line with other states in mandating vaccines for its 100,000-plus education workforce, with new rules expected to go live before the start of the 2022 school year.
The premier on Tuesday flagged mandatory vaccine rules for staff at prisons, youth detention centres and airports, while adding that the emergence of the Omicron variant had not altered the state’s plans to open its borders to fully-vaccinated visitors on December 17.
Teachers will need to be fully vaccinated by January 23 in time for school to go back.
Jabs are already mandatory for those working in Queensland police, aged care, public health and hospitality, while there are discussions for all public servants to be vaccinated as well.
No mandatory vaccine rules have been imposed on state politicians or their staff.
Ms Palaszczuk said despite the unpredictability of the virus – and the emergence of Omicron – plans to allow quarantine-free interstate travel for fully vaccinated people had not been affected.
Why millions of Aussies are ‘missing out’ on power rebates
An investigation has revealed only one in nine eligible Australian households are receiving energy relief payment. See why and how you can shave hundreds of dollars off your power bills.
Cops’ two year search for alleged DV offender
A man has been extradited two years after allegedly threatening a woman known to him before leaving the state.