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Health Minister Greg Hunt on Saturday announced Australia would be joining Europe and the US in closing its borders to nine southern African countries to stop the new variant from entering the country.
Scientists believe that its extensive mutations mean it must have originated in a severely immunocompromised patient, possibly an undiagnosed person with AIDS.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid has announced that flights from South Africa - as well as Namibia, Lesotho, Botswana, Eswatini and Zimbabwe - will be suspended from midday today.
Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis lashed South Africa's Covid experts for sounding the alarm so early, saying that the country's tourism industry had been dealt a 'crushing blow.'
Belgium revealed a case of the variant - named 'Omicron' by the WHO overnight - prompting EU chiefs to call for an 'emergency brake' on all travel from southern Africa after it was found in Israel.