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Two returned travellers have tested positive to the new Omicron variant os after arriving in Sydney overnight.

NSW Health has confirmed two people who flew into Sydney about 7pm on Saturday from southern Africa had since tested positive to COVID-19, which was later found to be caused by the new variant.

Both travellers are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and are asymptomatic. They are in isolation in the special health accommodation.

EXPLAINER:What we know about Omicron, the new COVID-19 variant in South Africa

The travellers were among 14 people from southern Africa who arrived on Qatar Airways QR908, Doha to Sydney.

The other 12 passengers are undertaking 14 days of hotel quarantine.

About 260 passengers and air crew on the flight are considered close contacts and have been directed to isolate.

The sudden arrival of the Omicron variant in Australia took many by surprise, particularly due to the new entry restrictions.

"We thought that we would get turned back," one passenger, wearing a mask, told 9News.

"We were on the tarmac and they turned us back to get a health official to tell us whether we could land or not."

Others took health measures into their own hands, with multiple passengers arriving in Sydney wearing their own hazmat suits.

Border restrictions introduced yesterday mean any Australians who have been in South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia, Eswatini, Malawi, and the Seychelles in the past 14 days must enter hotel quarantine for 14 days, irrespective of their vaccination status.

https://twitter.com/NSWHealth/status/1464837049291186180

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet today urged people to get a COVID-19 booster shot if they are six months on from their second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

It took the Delta strain of COVID-19 just three weeks to reach 53 countries. There is early evidence Omicron could be far more transmissible.

It has already reached the UK, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Hong Kong and Israel.

"It's more transmissible and potentially it can evade some of the vaccines," Jane Halton from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness told Today.

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First it was our driver licences, then our vaccine certificates.

Now digital birth certificates are coming in the new year and soon, in many cases there'll be no need for paper documents at all.

Customer Service and Digital Minister Victor Dominello has unveiled what the New South Wales government's view of the future looks like – and all you need is your phone.

From next year, residents will be able to load their first aid certificate and birth certificate into your digital wallet.

The state government is also building an educational wallet that will house high school certificates, diplomas, university degrees, Duke of Edinburgh awards and surf life saving certificates.

"All your credentials that you get throughout your life you'll be able to put in your educational wallet in your service app," Mr Dominello told 9News.

"You've got a range of documents. All we're doing is digitising them so they're more secure and definitely more private.

"It is far more secure on digital platforms than paper."

Mr Dominello said when someone takes a photocopy of your ID or credentials, you never know where that copy ends up.

"In a digital world, people can only access what they're entitled to and if they breach it, you know about it so you can action it," he said.

"You have all the control."

In the future if you were to go for a job interview and the employer wanted to know you went to a particular university or TAFE, you would be able to show them on your phone and share it with your interviewer.

As long as you authorise the sharing, the other person would be able to see your qualification did actually come from that TAFE or university.

Technology expert Trevor Long believes the convenience and security will outweigh privacy concerns.

"There's been absolutely no breach of this kind of level of information ever in Australian government," he told 9News.

"It's actually more of a concern when private companies put information up – private companies that have a more lax security."

Different features of the digital wallet will have different designs.

There is also a possibility that you'll be able to upload your passport to your digital wallet but that still requires collaboration with federal agencies.

So far, two-thirds of NSW drivers have opted in to using a digital licence.

The expanded digital wallet will be opt-in also.

"This will be no different to the digital driver's licence," Mr Dominello said.

Mr Dominello said people were embracing technology in record numbers and he believed there would be a big appetite for the new options based on the take-up of digital licences.

"What we've seen throughout the pandemic is the people of NSW are very digitally mature," he said.

"We've seen that with the use of QR codes, dine and discover vouchers and the like."

A 31-year-old mother is in police custody after an "intense" fire broke out within a Cairns quarantine hotel, leading to 163 people having to be evacuated.

No one was injured in the fire, which started about 7am this morning, on the eleventh floor of Pacific Hotel Cairns.

Chief Superintendent Chris Hodgman said the "significant fire" began in a room where a mother and two children were quarantining.

READ MORE: Omicron variant: How Australia's states and territories are responding

"It was quite intense," he said.

Supt Hodgman said the 163 people isolating within the hotel were evacuated without issue within five minutes.

He said the fire caused "significant damage" and would potentially mean a number of floors of the hotel would now be unusable.

Supt Hodgman said the hotel had been rendered a crime scene and that all residents would be moved to another hotel.

https://twitter.com/QldPolice/status/1464714192263397378

He said "top investigators" were looking into the "sensitive investigation", and that a 31-year-old woman had been taken into custody at Cairns watch house, while her two children were in police care.

The woman had allegedly been staying in the hotel for a couple of days, after having arrived from either Sydney or Melbourne, and had presented "some issues" to staff.

Supt Hodgman said he felt for the hotel staff and management.

"For this to happen is a bit of a tragedy," he said.

An armed man who allegedly opened fire at pedestrians before taking a hostage and barricading himself inside a shop in Windang is now in police custody.

Officers with to Lake Illawarra Police District responded to reports of shots being fired on Windang Road, Windang just before 9.30am today.

Police were told a 40-year-old man– armed with two firearms – had opened fire at passing vehicles and pedestrians, before fortifying himself inside a nearby dive shop.

The armed man allegedly held the shop owner against his will before releasing him safely and without injury.

Officers from Lake Illawarra and Wollongong Police Districts, with assistance from the Tactical Operations Unit (TOU), Police Negotiators and Dog Unit, established a perimeter.

After a period of negotiations, the armed man surrendered to police and was taken into custody just before 10.30am.

He has been transported to Lake Illawarra Police Station as inquiries continue.

https://twitter.com/nswpolice/status/1464746376672120833?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

A crime scene has been established at the dive shop, and at a home at Windang.

Both properties will be examined by specialist forensic officers and police from the Rescue and Bomb Disposal Unit.

There is no ongoing threat to the community and no injuries have been reported.

Local road closures will remain in place for several hours.