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 The fully vaccinated person visited a busy shopping centre in Sydney
while likely infectious, officials said. All passengers in the
person's flight were asked to self-isolate for 14 days regardless of
their vaccination status.
The additional case brings Australia's total number of infections
with the new variant to six. But it is the first case where the
person appeared to be active in the community. All other cases have
been in quarantine and are asymptomatic or display very mild
symptoms.
Authorities also said urgent genomic tests have begun to determine
whether two other positive cases on the same flight were infected
with the Omicron variant.
The report about the new community case came as Australia's
emergency cabinet - a group of federal and state leaders - met to
review measures aimed at limiting the spread of the variant.
The country already delayed the reopening of its international
borders by two weeks, less than 36 hours before international
students and skilled migrants were to be allowed to re-enter the
country.
New South Wales, home to a third of Australia's 25 million
population, increased fines for overseas arrivals who didn't comply
with a mandatory 72-hour self-isolation, to A$5,000 ($3,561) from
A$1,000 for individuals and to A$10,000 from A$5,000 for
corporations.
The state, which recently emerged from four months of lockdown, has
been unwinding its system of mandatory hotel quarantine but has said
arrivals from several southern African countries must still spend 14
days in quarantine.
[to top of second column] |
 But the federal government
urged state leaders to go ahead with plans to
relax domestic border restrictions, which have
been in place sporadically since the start of
the pandemic, by Christmas. "We
need to make calm decisions. Don't get spooked by this," Prime
Minister Scott Morrison told a news conference in Canberra.
Health Minister Greg Hunt said the overwhelming view of medical
experts was that "while it's an emerging variant, it's a manageable
variant".
Omicron, dubbed a "variant of concern" by the World Health
Organization, is potentially more contagious than previous variants
although there are signs it may be milder than initially feared.
Tough border restrictions and snap lockdowns have helped Australia
keep its COVID-19 numbers relatively low, with around 210,000 cases
and 2,006 deaths.
($1 = 1.4039 Australian dollars)
(This story refiles to orrects spelling of Omicron in first
paragraph)
(Reporting by Renju Jose and Byron Kaye in Sydney; Editing by Gerry
Doyle and Edmund Blair)
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