New coronavirus variants are forcing Australia and New Zealand to rethink already-stringent quarantine rules for overseas visitors, even as their systems are replicated around the world.
Officials in Australia's Victoria state became the latest to warn that the spread of the mutations first detected in the UK, Brazil and South Africa mean its 14-day mandatory quarantine must be toughened. "These hyper infectious strains are proving very difficult to contain," Victoria state premier Dan Andrews said, signalling coming reforms and announcing the snap closure of a Melbourne quarantine hotel at the centre of a new leak into the community. "We all have to acknowledge that quarantine and the public health response today must be, by necessity,