Australia has paused plans to reopen its borders to some foreign nationals amid fears over the new Covid variant.
The country was due to allow vaccinated skilled migrants and international students entry from 1 December.
But Prime Minister Scott Morrison said a delay of a fortnight was “necessary” following Omicron’s discovery.
The heavily mutated variant was detected in South Africa earlier this month, with initial evidence suggesting it has a higher re-infection risk.
It prompted the UK, EU and US to issue a travel ban on Southern African countries – a decision criticised by South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Japan announced on Monday that all foreigners would be banned from entering as a result of the variant, which the World Health Organization (WHO) has said poses a high risk globally.
