Australia and several other countries joined nations imposing restrictions on travel from southern Africa, including Israel, on Saturday after the discovery of a new coronavirus variant called Omicron sparked global concern and triggered a market sell-off
Omicron, dubbed a "variant of concern" by the World Health Organization, is potentially more contagious than previous variants of the disease.
It was first discovered in South Africa and has since been detected in Belgium, Botswana, Israel and Hong Kong.