Omicron Covid-19 Australia: Nick Coatsworth says nation may WANT variant to ...

One of Australia's former top doctors says the country may actually want the new Omicron variant of Covid-19 to spread as he warns the nation not to panic. 

Dr Nick Coatsworth said early reports from southern Africa suggested the new strain may rip through communities more quickly, but symptoms appeared to be milder.

'If this is milder than Delta you actually want it to spread within your community,' the former deputy chief medical officer told Nine's Today show on Monday morning. 

'You want it to out compete Delta and become the predominant circulating virus. So, that shows you how much more we have learn about this

'It could be that we want Omicron to spread around the world as quickly as possible.'

Genomic testing has confirmed two overseas travellers who arrived in Sydney from southern Africa have been infected.

Both passengers arrived on Saturday night and are in isolation in the Special Health Accommodation. Both are fully vaccinated.

The two passengers were among 14 people from southern Africa who arrived on Qatar Airways QR908, Doha to Sydney, with the remaining 12 undertaking 14 days of hotel quarantine.

Australia has now shut its borders to nine southern African countries and states have brought in new rules for international arrivals amid concern over Omicron.

Dr Coatsworth - who was the initial face of the country's vaccine rollout - hailed the swift action.

'The Australian government's taken some judicious but measured responses in terms of closure of international flights from southern Africa,' he said.

'There's a lot we need to find out and I don't think there's any strong evidence at the moment - apart from the fact that it's got 30 mutations - that those mutations are going to have the sort of negative effect.'

He said the information available so far had left him 'probably a little less worried'. 

He added: 'I definitely don't think we should be waking up to any sort of panic. This thing is only 72- hours old. There's too few cases at the moment.   

'There's three elements to a variant of concern. It can transmit more quickly, it can be more deadly or it can evade the vaccine.

'It's the first one. The speed at which it's spreading in South Africa is what makes it a variant of concern.

'The South African ministry of health said most cases have been mild.' 

Dr Coatsworth said at this stage there was no need to rush forward the vaccine booster program until more was known about the new strain.

'Definitely not at this point,' he said. 'We don't know enough. Premature calls for action like that when we know so little are a little bit counter-productive.

'Based on the information we have at the moment, we shouldn't really change our plans. 

'The only thing we should change is mild restrictions on the number of people coming into the country from certain other countries but at the moment everything else can go on as planned. 

'We will learn a lot more from the laboratories, from the World Health Organization, over the coming days.' 

Dr Coatsworth spoke out as fears Christmas holiday plans could be thrown into chaos as international and state border closures begin to domino and panic spreads about the emergence of the 'super-mutant' Covid variant Omicron. 

South Australia and Western Australia tightened border restrictions as other premiers around the nation also start to consider harsher controls.

Scientists are in a race against time to answer three vital questions about the variant that doctors said caused 'unusual' symptoms, as Scott Morrison and Australia's business leaders call for calm.

The Australian Health Protection Principal Committee, which gave the prime minister an emergency briefing on Sunday night, are scrambling to determine how transmissible Omicron is, whether it is more severe than other strains, and if it is vaccine resistant.

Trade and Tourism Minister Dan Tehan said he couldn't rule out extending restrictions to other nations if the outbreak spreads, or more drastic measures if Omicron turned out to be dangerous.

'We've taken a cautionary approach, that's what we'll continue to take as we work through what this variant is all about and what potential impacts it may have,' he said.

'We think that's got the balance right at the moment, but there's obviously more work that needs to be done in understanding the new variant and the potential impacts it might have.'

Mr Morrison said after his meeting: 'We need to be very responsive to the further evidence that is becoming available and the expert medical advice.

'The goal is to ensure that our public hospitals and health systems are able to cope with this virus so we can live with the virus.'

NSW, Victoria, and the ACT temporarily re-imposed a 72-hour self-isolation requirement for all international arrivals.  

Two other passengers who tested positive to Covid after arriving from southern Africa, one in Sydney and another at the Howard Springs facility near Darwin, are being screened to see if they also have the Omicron variant.

Victorian health authorities are also investigating whether the potential third NSW Omicron case could have infected anyone there while on a trip to Victoria. 

Government sources said the Victorian Government was considering extending quarantine and reintroducing mask mandates in some settings. 

New health orders could be announced as early as Monday, the sources said, and were likely to be also rolled out by state and territory leaders across the country.

NSW Jobs Minister Stuart Ayres announced on Sunday the state government was prepared to clamp down on travellers arriving from overseas.

'We will take the necessary measures, including restarting quarantine if required, to protect our community and our economy,' he said. 

A government source said work was underway to restore hotel quarantine if required, but the preferred option will be home isolation unless the strain was deemed extremely severe.

WA Premier Mark McGowan on Saturday evening shut his state's borders to South Australia in a draconian effort to lock out the mutant new strain, as it allows in visitors from NSW and Victoria.

The ruling means only vaccinated South Australians can enter WA, where they must immediately go into quarantine for 14 days.

South Australia also tightened its border rules following the emergence of the Omicron variant.

All international travellers and people arriving in SA from high-risk locations in Australia will once again be required to quarantine for 14 days.

First discovered in South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, the Seychelles, Malawi and Mozambique, the variant has since spread to several other nations across the globe.

The doctor who first raised the alarm on Omicron said patients are presenting with 'unusual' symptoms. 

Dr Angelique Coetzee, who runs a private practice in the South African capital of Pretoria, said she first noticed earlier this month that Covid patients were presenting with odd symptoms. 

The doctor, who has practiced for over 30 years and chairs the South African Medical Association, said none of the Omicron patients suffered a loss of taste of smell typically associated with Covid.

Instead they presented with unusual markers like intense fatigue and a rapid pulse.

'Their symptoms were so different and so mild from those I had treated before,' Dr Coetzee told The Telegraph.

She was compelled to inform South Africa's vaccine advisory board on November 18 when she treated a family of four, all of whom were suffering with intense fatigue after testing positive for Covid-19.

Australian virus expert Professor Tony Blakely it will take weeks before more is known about the strain and if it's resistant to vaccines.

'It's quite likely that this will precipitate new branches of vaccine development, there's just so many mutations on this virus it would seem most likely we will need new vaccines,' he told the Herald Sun.

That bleak possibility could send much of the globe back into lockdown but he said there could be one upside.

If Omicron is more infectious but less deadly and results in less hospitalisations, it could displace Delta as the most common form of Covid but lower the global death toll.

On the other hand: 'the worst-case scenario is it's more infectious, it's more virulent, and it's resistant to current vaccines,' Professor Blakely said.

The manufacturers of the Pfizer vaccine, BioNTech, said even if the new variant is resistant to vaccines it could create and ship a modified jab within 100 days.

Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox worried an overreaction to the new variant could be almost as bad as the virus for businesses that were already struggling in the wake of Delta lockdowns. 

'While some caution is understandable, the response to any new and inevitable variant needs to be targeted, proportionate and take into account the nearly 90 per cent of us are vaccinated and tired of lockdowns and border closures,' she told The Australian.

'We are just getting our economy back on its feet, but investment and confidence are still uncertain. An over-reaction both in terms of timing and proportionality around shutting Australia off from the world, and state from state, would be devastating.'

Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Andrew McKellar also warned that 'with international and domestic border closures finally reopening, business cannot afford to take a backwards step'.

'State and federal leaders must stick to the national plan to get Australia back open, and to stay open,' he said.

'Continuing to drive up the vaccination rate and encouraging everyone to get a booster shot is the best way to protect the population, rather than imposing further restrictions.'

Flight Centre founder Graham Turner is resigned to the fact the travel sector will see a huge decline in bookings over coming days and weeks.   

'If the vaccines are effective against the new strain, it won't change anything in the medium term,' he said. 

'It just depends on

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