Australia confirms 2 cases of new coronavirus strain

SYDNEY - Australia confirmed on Monday it has detected two cases of a fast-spreading new coronavirus strain that has forced Britain to reverse plans to ease curbs over Christmas, the first confirmed cases of the strain in the Asia-Pacific region.

Australia’s most populous state on Sunday reported six new cases of the novel coronavirus in people returning from overseas and in quarantine, and authorities said among them were two cases of the fast-spreading new strain.

However, New South Wales officials stressed that no people infected with the new strain were believed to be circulating in the community.

“We’ve had a couple of UK returned travellers with the particular mutations,” NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant told reporters.

Australia, which has since March closed its borders to all non-citizens and permanent residents, said it was not considering suspending flights with Britain.

“Everyone coming from the UK is going into 14 days of hotel quarantine and they are of no risk as that quarantine works so successfully,” chief medical officer Paul Kelly told reporters.

Authorities were also hopeful they were getting to grips with a flare-up of the virus in Sydney after NSW reported its lowest one-day rise in new infections in three days.

The state said 15 people had tested positive for the virus in the past 24 hours, down from the 30 the previous day, bringing the total number of cases in a new outbreak centred on Sydney’s northern beaches to 83.