Omicron ‘manageable’ despite border pause
The federal health minister says there is no cause for alarm over the new Covid strain but confirmed the reopening of borders has been delayed.
Health Minister Greg Hunt has said that there is no cause for alarm over the new Omicron strain of coronavirus, describing it as a “manageable variant,” with Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly adding that so far all cases have been mild or asymptomatic.
However while more intense restrictions do not seem to be on the cards, officials said that Australians should be prepared for the possibility of booster shots next winter.
Providing an update on Tuesday morning on the National Security Committee’s decision to push the pause button for two weeks on further reopenings of international borders, Mr Hunt said, “We are doing this out of an abundance of caution but our overwhelming view is that while it is an emerging variant, it is a manageable variant.”
International students and migrants were to be allowed into the country on December 1 but that has been delayed until December 15.
Mr Hunt was joined by Home Affairs Secretary Karen Andrews who said that the decision to pause reopening “wasn’t taken lightly”.
Announcing that there are five Omicron cases diagnosed in Australia, Professor Kelly said, “it’s similar to travellers in other countries in the world, almost all of them directly linked with southern Africa – they are young. They’re doubly vaccinated.
“Several of them have had the infection previously, either known or on serological testing.
“And they have very mild or in fact no disease. That’s what we know so far”, he said.
Professor Kelly also said that vaccine boosters may be a weapon against the new variant as well as other future variants, with Australia able to deliver around 300,000 jabs a day – as occurred in the peak vaccination months of September and October.
“Boosters in winter make a lot of sense. We’re more than six months away from winter,” Professor Kelly said.
“We know that respiratory viruses circulate a lot more in winter.
“It’s likely that that’s when we would want the boosters to be totally actively working.”
Originally published as Omicron a ‘manageable’ Covid variant in Australia, Greg Hunt says
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