As of Saturday, Australian states and territories are reimposing international border rules in response to the new Omicron variant of COVID-19.
The new variant, which was first detected in nine African countries has now been detected in a growing number of countries across the world.
Yesterday, Australia announced that people arriving from South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia, Eswatini, Malawi, and the Seychelles into any Australian state or territory must undergo 14 days’ quarantine.
Meanwhile, all international arrivals into Victoria and NSW will now be required to self-isolate for at least 72 hours, regardless of their vaccination status
The ACT has taken similar measures while South and Western Australia are also tightening and reviewing rules, with all recent international arrivals from all other countries required to quarantine until 30 November.
No confirmed cases of the Omicron variant have been reported in Australia to date.
Moreover, travellers from “low-risk” regions such as Sydney and Melbourne will now be required to present evidence of a negative test result from within 72 hours before arriving in SA, regardless of their vaccination status.
Police say there is no provision to be tested on arrival.
At the same time, several European countries are imposing strict entry rules at their international borders as Omicron cases are detected. Israel is banning all international entries while Boris Johnson has announced that arrivals to the UK have to take a PCR test by the second day of their arrival and self-isolate until they have a negative result. Germany and the Netherlands are already taking strict measures following the identification of Omicron cases.