New Delhi, India
Australia has been put on high alert again after cases of new variants of coronavirus were spotted in the country. The new variants, from Britain and South Africa are considered more infectious than the original strain from China.
A strict three-day long lockdown was imposed in Queensland's capital Brisbane after one of the new strains was spotted in the city. While Queensland has the strain from Britain, Australia's largest city - Sydney has the South African variant.
Compared to other advanced economies, Australia has done a better job of tackling the pandemic. Currently, the total infections in the country stand at 28,600, with 909 deaths.
At some point in the last few months, every state has recorded zero cases of coronavirus.
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The new variants of the virus have forced the government to reimpose strict measures against the spread of new variants. On Friday, the government cut down the number of travellers coming in from overseas. In addition, negative coronavirus tests are now mandatory for people coming into the country, with more testing to follow at local quarantine centres.
"So long as people are travelling, the risk of the virus seeping into the community is already there," New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said during a news conference.
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"Anything we can do to reduce that risk is really important, especially now when we understand what these strains are doing, and all the experts advise in due course that these mutated strains will become the dominant strain", Berejiklian added.
In March 2020, the country closed its borders, and slowly allowed a limited number of citizens to return. Upon returning, all of them were put into a mandatory two-week hotel quarantine.
On Saturday, the country's largest state - New South Wales reported a community transmitted case of the virus, right before a three-week lockdown ends for people in Sydney's northern areas which was sealed off after an outbreak in December.