Govt prepares to fight new variant

THE government has started to build up the country's defenses against the threat of the new Covid-19 variant Omicron, expanding the list of countries and other areas where the variant has been detected or where infections have dramatically risen.

The country's "red list" of places that are high-risk for Covid-19 now covers South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique, Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium and Italy.