The potentially more contagious Omicron Covid variant has been found in Britain - and likely Germany and Italy - as many countries, including New Zealand, scramble to restrict travel from southern Africa countries where the new variant originated. Many countries, including New Zealand, have already imposed travel restrictions on flights from southern Africa in the four days since Omicron was first identified in South Africa. Nine southern African countries are being added to the New Zealand Government's very high-risk countries list - South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Seychelles, Malawi and Mozambique. The two cases are linked and involve travel from southern Africa. Professor Michael Baker told the Herald earlier on Saturday the Government should consider putting southern Africa on its "very high risk" travel list.
Source: New Zealand Herald November 27, 2021 11:03 UTC