New South Wales has recorded another two cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, with further cases likely to be announced in the state.
The total number of Omicron cases in NSW is now at 15, NSW Health said on Sunday, shortly after another 286 COVID-19 cases and one death were reported.
Five cases of the new variant have been linked to several Sydney venues, including Regents Park Christian School, Sydney Indoor Climbing Gym Villawood, and St Peter Chanel Catholic Primary School in Regents Park.
While the growing number of Omicron infections is a concern, NSW Health says none of the 15 confirmed cases have been admitted to hospital at this stage.
The ACT on Sunday also confirmed a second case of the Omicron variant, a close contact of a previously reported individual.
In response to the emergence of the new strain, South Australia on Saturday announced all interstate travellers from NSW and Victoria will need to undergo a COVID-19 test upon arrival.
Arrivals will also need to get a test six days after arrival, in addition to their negative result required within 72 hours of their trip.
While less than 20 cases of Omicron have been detected in Australia so far, measures have been implemented to prevent further seeding as authorities await more information about the strain.
Last week, Australia banned travel from several southern African countries, including South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Seychelles, Malawi and Mozambique.
Overseas, Omicron has been detected in about 40 countries so far, with other governments also tightening travel restrictions amid concerns of the new variant.
WHO calls for calm over Omicron
But with the emergence of the new strain, the World Health Organisation’s chief scientist urged people not to panic.
“How worried should we be? We need to be prepared and cautious not panic because we’re in a different situation to a year ago,” Soumya Swaminathan said in an interview at the Reuters Next conference.
“Delta accounts for 99 per cent of infections around the world. This variant would have to be more transmissible to out-compete and become dominant worldwide. It is possible but it’s not possible to predict.”
Much remains unknown about Omicron, including whether current vaccines are effective in fighting the strain.
“We need to wait, lets hope it’s milder... but it’s too early to conclude about the variant as a whole,” Swaminathan said.
CEO of the Netcare group, which operates the largest private health-care network in South Africa, Dr Richard Friedland, added this wave of the virus feels different.
“If in the second and third wave we’d seen these levels of positivity to tests conducted, we would have seen very significant increases in hospital admissions and we’re not seeing that,” he told Bloomberg.
“In our primary care clinics it is mainly people under 30 years old.
“So I actually think there is a silver lining here and this may signal the end of COVID-19, with it attenuating itself to such an extent that it’s highly contagious, but doesn’t cause severe disease. That’s what happened with Spanish flu.
“We are seeing breakthrough infections of people who have been vaccinated, but the infections we’re seeing are very mild to moderate.
“It’s early days, but I’m less panicked. It feels different to me on the ground.”
- with AAP
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMilAFodHRwczovLzduZXdzLmNvbS5hdS9saWZlc3R5bGUvaGVhbHRoLXdlbGxiZWluZy9uZXctb21pY3Jvbi1jYXNlcy1kZXRlY3RlZC1pbi1uc3ctYXMtZXhwZXJ0LXNheXMtbmV3LXN0cmFpbi1tYXktc2lnbmFsLXRoZS1lbmQtb2YtY292aWQtMTktYy00ODIwNTc00gGYAWh0dHBzOi8vN25ld3MuY29tLmF1L2xpZmVzdHlsZS9oZWFsdGgtd2VsbGJlaW5nL25ldy1vbWljcm9uLWNhc2VzLWRldGVjdGVkLWluLW5zdy1hcy1leHBlcnQtc2F5cy1uZXctc3RyYWluLW1heS1zaWduYWwtdGhlLWVuZC1vZi1jb3ZpZC0xOS1jLTQ4MjA1NzQuYW1w?oc=5
2021-12-05 01:07:30Z
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