Borders slam shut as world rushes to contain new Covid variant

SYDNEY: World governments rushed to contain a new, heavily mutated Covid-19 strain Sunday, with Israel slamming its borders shut to foreign nationals and Australia reporting its first cases of the variant.

The variant now known as Omicron has cast doubt on global efforts to fight the pandemic because of fears that it is highly infectious, forcing countries to reimpose measures many had hoped were a thing of the past.