The federal government of Australia has delayed the re-opening of its borders to some foreign nationals for at least two weeks following the emergence of the Omicron Covid-19 variant.

Australia was due to welcome back skilled workers, students and certain visa holders, including working holiday makers, as well as people from Japan and South Korea from 1 December but has ¡°paused¡± the relaxation of border restrictions until at least 15 December to ¡°ensure Australia can gather the information we need to better understand the Omicron variant¡±.

In addition, anyone who is not an Australian citizen, resident, or an immediate family member of a citizen or resident, who has been in South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Malawi, or Mozambique within the last 14 days will not be permitted entry into the country. Citizens, residents and their immediate family members who have been to these countries will be required to undergo immediate supervised quarantine for 14 days on arrival.

Anyone who has already arrived in Australia from any of the southern African nations listed are requested to self-isolate and get a Covid-19 test.

The rules also apply for people arriving from safe travel zones established with New Zealand and Singapore.

The Australian states of New South Wales and Victoria, which relaxed isolation rules earlier this month, have introduced 72-hour isolation and testing requirements for all international passengers. Other states still require 14 days of managed quarantine.

The Omicron variant was first detected in South Africa last week and has caused countries around the world to return to?tighter border controls?over fears it might be resistant to current vaccines. Early evidence suggests the variant is more transmissible than previous versions of the Covid-19 virus.