Singapore suspended quarantine-free travel and Australia renewed its vaccination push today as surging cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant just days before Christmas forced authorities to impose new curbs and expedite booster shots.
Governments globally have tightened social mobility restrictions and made urgent pleas for citizens to vaccinate as Omicron emerges as the dominant strain of the virus, upending reopening plans that many hoped would herald the start of a post-pandemic era in 2022.
In Asia-Pacific, Singapore will freeze all new ticket sales for flights and buses under its programme for quarantine-free travel into the city-state from 23 December to 20 January, the government said today, citing risk from the fast-spreading