Australia Detects Two Cases Of New Covid Variant 'Omicron'

Both passengers came from southern Africa and arrived in Australia on a Qatar Airways flight via Doha.

Health officials in Australia said Sunday they had detected the Covid Omicron strain for the first time after testing two passengers from southern Africa who flew into Sydney.

The eastern state of New South Wales' health authority said it had conducted urgent genomic testing and confirmed the new strain was present in two passengers who landed in Sydney on Saturday.

Both passengers came from southern Africa and arrived in Australia on a Qatar Airways flight via Doha, NSW Health said in a statement.

They tested positive for Covid shortly after arriving, leading to an urgent analysis for possible infection by the heavily mutated Omicron strain.