"My first thought was, oh man, not again."
That was owner of hamburger joint The Hungry Brown Cow Will Cowie's reaction to hearing about the new COVID-19 variant, Omicron.
"It's just become a real pain in the arse," Mr Cowie said.
The sentiment would have been shared by many other Canberrans, but especially other hospitality business owners.
He said the new variant showed how uncertain the future was for local businesses.
"I [thought] that we were probably past the worst and that things are going to sort of start getting back to some sort of sense of normality. This new variant showed us that we don't know what's going to happen," he said.
Following news travellers aboard a flight from South Africa to Sydney were infected with the new strain, the ACT paused a planned easing restrictions.
There are fewer than 15 people currently quarantined in Canberra who have been in one of the nine countries in southern Africa deemed high risk. ACT Health said it had contacted all Canberrans on that flight.
Director of The Boat House restaurant James Suttar said while he welcomes a pause on eased restrictions, he is concerned Omicron will stop Canberrans from going out to eat over Christmas.
"I'm not too concerned about the pausing of restrictions at this stage," he said.
"[Omicron] couldn't come at a worse time with Christmas around the corner; a time when a lot of hospitality were hoping to retrieve some of the losses that we've had this year.
"[So] I'm watching very closely what the new strain means. It is a reminder that ... we're not finished with [this] pandemic yet."
Supervisor at city café Harvest, Elise Crerar, said she feared Canberrans would get scared of the virus again and stay out of the city.
"[Business is] not that good at the moment," she said.
"So it will probably take a toll on the business if [ACT Health] want restrictions, or people were to start working from home again because they're scared."
Canberra Business Chamber CEO Graham Catt said local businesses were hoping for a balanced approach to the new strain.
"We are dealing with businesses who really in many cases are just moving into recovery from the most recent round of lockdowns and restrictions," he said.
"The feeling of the business community is, yes, that decision to ease restrictions, decisions around international borders are regrettable but necessary.
"But what's really critical is that future measures are targeted, are proportionate and don't pose a risk to that recovery, both short term and long term, of our economy."
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ACT Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said chief health officer Dr Kerryn Coleman would advise whether the territory should remove density limits and drop mandatory QR codes in some venues.
NSW will be easing restrictions before or on December 15.
"We're not expecting to see public health restrictions increasing at this point in time, but neither are we currently considering any further easing of restrictions," Ms Stephen-Smith said on Monday.
The ACT has reintroduced stricter quarantine rules for international arrivals, requiring anybody who arrived in the territory after 11.59pm on Saturday to go into quarantine until 11.59pm on Tuesday.
Mr Catt said he hoped international borders would open back up after a "prudent" pause.
"For businesses that are looking at the arrival of skilled migrants, international students potentially returning as a positive thing," he said.
"It's obviously a regrettable decision to see that pause for a further two weeks."
