New Covid variant ‘no concern’

A new strain of Covid-19 has his Australia, but based on early evidence experts aren’t yet too worried about its impact.

The new XBB variant first emerged in Singapore, and it’s transmission, while currently at low levels, has now reached NSW and Victoria.

Within a week, the XBB strain made up to half of Singapore’s Covid cases.

A statement from NSW Health said the BA 4 and BA5 Omicron strains were still most common, but their dominance was on the decline.

“We will be closely monitoring the emergence of variants and other international and local data over the next seven to 14 days to assess growth potential of the new variants in the context of the NSW population immunity profile,” NSW Health said.

The new vaccine-resistant strain is also resistant to antibodies built up from previous infections.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said they don’t believe the new variant warrants further public health concern as it doesn’t “diverge sufficiently from other Omicron linages.”

The XBB variant has been detected in 35 countries but hasn’t yet been associated with any major increase in now infections.

Infectious diseases expert Professor Peter Collignon said there was no evidence the new strain was “more virulent, as judged by hospitalisations and deaths”.

Despite experts saying not to worry, the early evidence suggests the XBB strain has a higher re-infection risk, especially to those infected before the Omicron variant became dominant.

XBB’s potential to drive new infection waves might depend on both the size and timing of earlier Omicron waves and COVID-19 vaccine coverage.

Across the country, there were more than 31,000 cases of Covid active in the week leading up to October 25.