Australia delays relaxing border, 5th omicron case reported

By ROD McGUIRK
Associated Press

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australian authorities have announced that they will delay for at least two weeks plans to relax border restrictions as the country reported a fifth case of the omicron COVID-19 variant. New South Wales state authorities reported on Sunday that two travelers from South Africa to Sydney had become Australia’s first omicron cases. On Monday, another two Sydney cases were confirmed after arriving in Australia’s most populous state on a flight from southern Africa on Sunday. A South African man who flew from Johannesburg to the northern Australian city of Darwin has also tested positive for the new variant.The government has decided that plans to relax border restrictions from Wednesday will be postponed until Dec. 15.