Nearly 1.3 million cases have been reported in the country in the past two weeks, with the most populous areas being New South Wales and Victoria.
As companies anticipating a brighter outlook for 2022 caused roadblocks at Omicron jobs, companies had to put in place plans to increase performance, report lower profits or plan additional costs.
Here is a list of companies that have been warned of a severe blow by the epidemic:
Wesfermers
Omicron’s increasing number of cases led to lower Christmas trading conditions and lower numbers in its stores in the first half of January, while disrupting its grocery chain. COVID-19 has supply and inventory due to lack of staff at its distribution centers.
Qantas Airways
The airline cut a third of its planned domestic and international capacity in the March quarter to better cater to travel needs following an increase in COVID-19 infections.
Virgin Australia
The airline has announced that it will reduce capacity across its entire network by about 25% for the January and February seasons, due to lower travel demand and the need to isolate staff.
Fromage Bega
The cheese maker issued a profit warning, saying its impact on COVID-19 was “widespread and significant,” causing its shares to fall.
Poultry manufacturer Inghams Group attributed the rapid expansion of Omicron to an impact on the supply chain, operations and sales. It said staff shortages due to COVID-19 were affecting its productivity and operational efficiency. (Compiled by Sarkar and Shaswat Awasthi in Indra; narrated by Shaunak Dasgupta)