The ‘highly mutated’ Omicron variant poses very high global risk of infection surges, WHO says; Sweden, Spain and Portugal the latest countries to confirm presence of new variant
- UK to ramp up Covid booster jabs and halve minimum gap to 3 months
- Omicron variant prompts nervous governments to impose travel curbs
- China president Xi Jinping pledges 1b Covid vaccine doses for Africa
- Biden says Omicron Covid variant a ‘cause for concern, not panic’
- South African scientists explore vaccines’ effectiveness against Omicron
- See all our coronavirus coverage
Hong Kong has banned non-residents from entering the city from four African countries and plans to expand that to travellers who have been to Australia, Canada, Israel and six European countries in the past 21 days due to fears over Omicron, Reuters reports.
In a statement late on Monday, the Hong Kong government said non-residents from Angola, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Zambia would not be allowed to enter the global financial hub as of 30 November.