MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Australian health officials said on Saturday they were on high alert after cases of new highly transmissible variants of the coronavirus, discovered in Britain and South Africa, hit the country.
Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, went into a tight three-day closure on Saturday following the discovery of a virulent strain of the virus that causes COVID-19, linked to Britain. A variant that emerged in South Africa was found in Sydney, Australia’s largest city, in a hotel quarantine.
Australia has been more successful than most advanced economies in pandemic management, with total infections of close to 28,600 and 909 deaths, while each state has at some point recorded zero COVID-19 transmissions.
But given the new variants, the government on Friday reduced the number of overseas passengers and demanded negative COVID-19 testing of those boarding planes and more testing at local quarantine facilities.
“As people travel, the risk of the virus infiltrating the community already exists,” New South Wales Prime Minister Gladys Berejiklian told a news conference.
“Anything we can do to reduce this risk is really important, especially now that we understand what these strains are doing and all the experts advise in due course that these mutated strains will become the dominant strain.”
Australia closed its borders in March, but has allowed a limited number of Australians to return, making them a mandatory quarantine for two weeks on arrival.
New South Wales, the largest state, reported a new community-wide case on Saturday as a three-week closure is expected to end for approximately a quarter of a million people in northern Sydney after an outbreak in December.
Queensland, where a case of the UK-linked variant was registered last week, reported no new cases. But officials said they could not rule out extending the three-day closure if more cases appear.
“This is because of this new variant and because it’s the first time this new variant is coming out to a community anywhere in the country,” said Queensland Health Director Jeannette Young.
Report by Lidia Kelly; Edited by William Mallard