The NSW Government has taken precautionary steps in relation to quarantine arrangements for overseas arrivals following the introduction of additional national border security measures by the Australian Government.
Premier Dominic Perrottet said the new measures would help keep people safe as we work through this latest development with COVID.
“Authorities around the world are still investigating the risk posed by this new variant,” Mr Perrottet said.
“As a result, the NSW Government will continue to put community safety first by taking these precautionary but important steps until more information becomes available.”
The new measures, which will take effect at midnight tonight, are:
- In line with Commonwealth measures, all travellers arriving in NSW who have been in South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia, Eswatini, Malawi, and the Seychelles during the 14 day period before their arrival in NSW must enter hotel quarantine for 14 days, irrespective of their vaccination status;
- All travellers who have been in any other overseas country during the 14 day period before their arrival in NSW must travel directly to their place of residence or accommodation and isolate for 72 hours, pending further health advice;
- All flight crew who have been overseas during the 14-day period before their arrival in NSW must travel directly to their place of residence or accommodation and isolate for 14 days or until their departure on another flight that leaves Australia, consistent with the current rules for unvaccinated flight crew;
- Anyone who has already arrived in NSW who has been in any of the nine African countries within the previous 14 days must immediately get tested and isolate for 14 days, and call NSW Health on 1800 943 553;
- All unvaccinated travellers from any overseas country will continue to enter hotel quarantine.
Minister for Health Brad Hazzard said no cases of the Omicron variant have been identified in NSW to date, but urged everyone to stay vigilant.
“I remind the community that vaccination, social distancing and hand hygiene remain our best defence against COVID,” Mr Hazzard said.
Public health advice on quarantine arrangements and isolation requirements will be provided as soon as new information emerges on the risk posed by the new variant and the extent of its international transmission.
People can get the latest information by visiting nsw.gov.au.
The Morrison Government is also applying Omicron Variant state & territory isolate &/or quarantine restrictions to people, for instance international students and skilled migrants, arriving from the safe travel zones established with New Zealand, Singapore, Japan and Republic of Korea, who have been in any of the nine countries within the past 14 days.
As well as suspending all flights from the nine southern African countries for a period of 14 days as a matter of precaution.
BACKGROUND
The Guardian UK, 27 November 2021:
B.1.1.529 has a very unusual constellation of mutations, which are worrying because they could help it evade the body’s immune response and make it more transmissible, scientists have said. Any new variant that is able to evade vaccines or spread faster than the now-dominant Delta variant may pose a significant threat as the world emerges from the pandemic.
Dr Susan Hopkins, the chief medical adviser to the UK Health Security Agency, said the R value, or effective reproduction number, of the B.1.1.529 variant in the South African province of Gauteng, where it was first found, was now 2 – a level of transmission not recorded since the beginning of the pandemic, before restrictions began to be imposed. For an R of anything above 1, an epidemic will grow exponentially.....
How does B.1.1.529 compare with other variants?
Senior scientists on Thursday evening described B.1.1.529 as the worst variant they had seen since the start of the pandemic. It has 32 mutations in the spike protein, the part of the virus that most vaccines use to prime the immune system against Covid. That is about double the number associated with the Delta variant. Mutations in the spike protein can affect the virus’s ability to infect cells and spread, but also make it harder for immune cells to attack the pathogen.
As of 28 November 2021 this new variant has been found in 15 countries - South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia, Eswatini, Malawi, Seychelles, Israel, Hong Kong, Belgium, Germany, Czech Republic and the United Kingdom, with limited genomic sequencing to date apparently linking all cases outside of the African continent back to travel through southern Africa.
UPDATE
#BREAKING New #COVID19 variant 'probably' among 61 passengers from South Africa who tested positive for the virus: Dutch health authority pic.twitter.com/vKdyLiQeKw
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) November 27, 2021
'Urgent' genomic testing underway in Sydney after two positive COVID cases on flights arriving from Southern Africa.
— Latika M Bourke (@latikambourke) November 27, 2021
They are in hotel quarantine. #omicron pic.twitter.com/XWYHV2v1Vv
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