Experts not worried about new rapidly spreading variant of Covid-19

A new Covid variant has hit Australia in time for the holidays, but experts say it’s not like the others.

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.

The new strain is resistant to vaccines and antibodies from previous infection.

"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 lineages.”

Latest update from Dr @mvankerkhove on Omicron sub-lineages XBB and BQ.1 ⬇️

In order to track #COVID19 virus evolution and make the right assessment and policies, we need sustained surveillance of the virus - well planned and organised testing and sequencing across the 🌍. pic.twitter.com/RjCQihOl3t

— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) October 26, 2022

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.

The XBB strain has reached NSW and Victoria, just in time for the holiday season. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Wayne Taylor

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 active cases of Covid in the week leading up to October 25.

Originally published as Experts not worried about new rapidly spreading variant of Covid-19