Travel curbs aimed at COVID variant tighten across the world

HONG KONG (AP) — Australian officials are racing to conduct further tests on passengers arriving from southern Africa who tested positive for COVID-19 to determine if they are carrying the omicron variant as nations around the world tighten controls against the worrying new strain. Several Asia-Pacific nations imposed curbs on travel from the region Sunday, echoing steps taken by countries around the world to limit the spread of the omicron variant just days after it was identified by researchers in South Africa.