International travelers wearing personal protective equipment arrive at Melbourne's Tullamarine Airport on Nov 29, 2021 as Australia records it's first cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19. (WILLIAM WEST / AFP)

WELLINGTON / ANKARA / MUMBAI / SEOUL - Five people in Sydney, Australia’s largest city, have contracted the Omicron variant of the coronavirus locally, New South Wales health authorities confirmed.

The cases are linked to two schools and a climbing gym in Sydney’s western suburbs, which may also be the source of a confirmed Omicron infection in the Australian Capital Territory, NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said Sunday

The cases are linked to two schools and a climbing gym in Sydney’s western suburbs, which may also be the source of a confirmed Omicron infection in the Australian Capital Territory, NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said Sunday. Urgent genome testing is underway for a number of other cases linked to the venues and should be available in coming days, she said in a video update.

New South Wales state has confirmed 15 Omicron infections and more are likely, Chant said. The outbreak was seeded from infected travelers on a flight from Doha who had been in southern Africa.

The Omicron variant of COVID-19, first identified in southern Africa, has now been detected in countries from the US to South Korea, underscoring the difficulties of curtailing contagious new strains. Researchers worldwide are racing to understand the full impact of the new strain, and governments have banned travelers from South Africa and nearby countries on concerns Omicron could evade the protection of vaccines and fuel new surges.

South Australia state on Saturday increased restrictions for international travelers over Omicron fears, requiring all arrivals to quarantine for 14 days, not just those from southern Africa. Travelers arriving from Australia’s south-eastern states will need to test on arrival and isolate until a negative result is received, state Premier Steven Marshall said.

South Australian authorities are “extraordinarily concerned” about the outbreak in Sydney and the case in the ACT, but will keep its border open at this stage, Marshall told reporters Saturday. “We don’t know enough about the Omicron variant at this stage,” he said after a meeting with officials to discuss closing the border. 

Omicron is “here in Australia,” he said. “It’s contained to this point but we could receive further information in the coming days that it is no longer contained.”

ALSO READ: Australia Omicron variant spreads, testing reopening plans

A health official gathers beneficiary details before conducting COVID-19 coronavirus screening of passengers at a railway station during an enforcement drive in Bangalore on Dec 3, 2021. (MANJUNATH KIRAN / AFP)

India

India on Sunday reported its highest single-day COVID-19 deaths since July after two states revised their death tolls.

The eastern state of Bihar added 2,426 unrecorded deaths while the southern state of Kerala added 263 deaths to their tallies on Sunday, a federal health ministry spokesperson told Reuters.

The revised figures took single-day deaths to 2,796, the highest since July 21, according to a Reuters tally.

A devastating second wave in March and April this year saw thousands of deaths and millions affected.

Indian states have continued to add unreported COVID-19 deaths in recent months, lending weight to some medical experts' opinions that such deaths are much higher than the reported number of 473,326.

Iran

Iran reported 2,157 new COVID-19 cases over the last 24 hours, its lowest case count since September last year. The daily death toll fell to the lowest in more than eight months at 58, the latest health ministry data showed.

In this file photo taken on Aug 18, 2021, people visit a COVID-19 testing station during a nationwide lockdown in Wellington. (MARTY MELVILLE / AFP)

New Zealand

New Zealand reported 108 new cases of COVID-19, said the Ministry of Health in a statement on Sunday.

Of the cases, 106 were community cases while two were imported cases at the border.

Among them, 93 were recorded in the largest city of Auckland, eight in nearby Waikato, three in Northland, one in Whanganui, and one in Canterbury.

The total case number of COVID-19 in the current Delta variant outbreak in the New Zealand community reached 9,037, mainly in Auckland and peripheral regions.

There were 77 COVID-19 patients in New Zealand hospitals including seven cases in intensive care units or high dependency units.

New Zealand recorded 11,825 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic.

According to the ministry, 88 percent of eligible New Zealanders have now fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

From Friday, New Zealand transformed its COVID-19 Alert Level settings to the Traffic Light settings under the new COVID-19 Protection Framework, where facemasks, contact tracing scanning and vaccination certificate became essential equipment adopted to slow the spread of the virus.

The largest city Auckland and part of the North Island are at red settings, while the rest of the country is at orange settings.

Singapore 

COVID-19 vaccines for children aged 5 to 11 will be available soon in Singapore, Finance Minister Lawrence Wong said in a Facebook post.

South Korea

South Korea on Sunday reported three more Omicron coronavirus variant cases, bringing its total confirmed so far to 12, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said.

It reported 5,128 new COVID-19 cases for Saturday, a slight decline after reporting a record daily tally of 5,352 a day earlier.

The country has reported a total of 473,034 cases, with 3,852 deaths.

Turkey

Turkey on Saturday reported 20,374 new COVID-19 cases, raising its tally of infections to 8,881,760, according to its health ministry.

The death toll from the virus in Turkey rose by 228 to 77,645, while 19,463 more people recovered in the last 24 hours.

 A total of 353,035 tests were conducted over the past day, it said.