Health officials said Sunday they had detected the Covid-19 Omicron strain in Australia for the first time in two passengers who were tested after flying into Sydney from southern Africa. The eastern state of New South Wales' health authority said it had conducted urgent genomic testing and confirmed the new strain was present in the two people who landed in Sydney on Saturday. Both passengers came from southern Africa and […]
Australia banned flights from nine southern African countries on Saturday, tightening its borders to prevent the entry of the new Covid-19 Omicron variant. Non-Australians who visited South Africa, Zimbabwe and several other nations in the past fortnight will also be barred from Australia, Heath Minister Greg Hunt said. Citizens and residents travelling from the listed countries will have to quarantine for 14 days. "These are strong, swift, decisive and immediate […]
Australia, largely unvaccinated due to scarce supply of Pfizer shots and public unease about the AstraZeneca vaccine, is battling the worst wave of the novel coronavirus so far. Australia’s second-most populous state Victoria reported 190 new locally acquired coronavirus cases, health officials said on Saturday, as the state struggles to contain an outbreak of the highly infectious Delta variant. Of the new infections, 103 were linked to existing outbreaks, the […]
Australia has announced its first coronavirus-related death of the year as authorities in the state of New South Wales struggle to contain an outbreak of the highly infectious Delta variant. The woman in her 90s died hours after testing positive for COVID-19, officials said on Sunday. Hers is the first death from a locally acquired infection in Australia this year and came as NSW logged a record 77 new cases […]
Residents of Australia’s largest city will spend at least one more week in lockdown, authorities announced on Wednesday, after detecting dozens of new coronavirus cases. Sydney, home to a fifth of Australia’s 25 million people, first went into lockdown on June 26 amid an outbreak of the highly transmissible Delta variant. While strict stay-at-home orders were due to end in the city on Friday, they will now remain in place […]
Australia has abandoned its target of vaccinating nearly all the country’s 26 million people against COVID-19 by the end of 2021 after medical authorities changed their advice on vaccine use for the under-50s. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Australia would not set any new target for administering all first doses. “The Government has also not set, nor has any plans to set any new targets for completing first doses,” Morrison […]
Australian authorities were preparing to evacuate thousands of more people on Monday from flood-affected suburbs on the western fringes of Sydney, the country’s biggest city, with another day of heavy rain triggering the worst floods in 60 years. Rivers across the state of New South Wales (NSW) have burst their banks amid three days of unrelenting rain. Thousands march across Australia demanding justice for women The Warragamba Dam – the […]
Australia has told 13 special forces soldiers that they face dismissal in relation to a report on alleged unlawful killings in Afghanistan, the head of the country’s army said on Friday. Lieutenant General Rick Burr, the head of the Australian army, said the soldiers have been issued with “administrative action notices,” which would terminate their service in two weeks unless they successfully appealed. A years-long investigation last week reported that […]
Australia said on Thursday that its special forces were suspected of being responsible for 39 unlawful killings in Afghanistan, as it released a long-awaited report into alleged war crimes committed in the South Asian nation. Australia launched the inquiry in 2016, amid reports from whistle-blowers and in the local media of the alleged killing of unarmed men and children that the government initially tried to suppress. Detailing the findings, General […]
VOC became the first Muslim radio station in South Africa when a special events license was granted to the station in Ramadan/January 1995. Subsequent temporary broadcast licenses were granted, permitting the station to broadcast for 24 hours.
