The new COVID-19 variant emerging from southern Africa would not have any immediate effect on Australia’s plan to reopen after rolling lockdowns, the country’s health minister said. Health Minister Greg Hunt said this is because there has been “very little traffic” directly from South Africa, and Australia’s high vaccination rate. The last repatriation flight from South Africa arrived last week and those people were in quarantine at the Howard Springs facility in the Northern Territory. But he said Australia would be flexible and responsible, as it was during the Delta outbreak in India when it paused flights. “As we’ve always been, we’re flexible. And if the medical advice is that we need to change, we won’t hesitate,” he told reporters Friday. Hunt said Australian officials were working with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and international partners to investigate whether it is a “major new variant.” Meanwhile, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said …