Leading epidemiologists are urging a rethink of Australia’s current reopening plans as case numbers of the Omicron variant surge. On Sunday leading experts, including John Kaldor, and Greg Dore, epidemiologists at the Kirby Institute, and Professor Sharon Lewin, director of the Doherty Institute, published an opinion piece in the Sydney Morning Herald calling for a return to restrictions “for a few weeks” while the country gets more information on Omicron’s severity and ability to evade vaccines. Lewin, who advised on Morrison’s national plan to ease Australia into living with COVID-19, said we should pump the brakes ... (full story)