Covid update: Jeroen Weimar says there are some cases of ‘son of Omicron’ in Victoria

Victoria’s Covid commander Jeroen Weimar has revealed there are “a few cases” of the stealth Covid sub-variant dubbed ‘son of Omicron’ in the Victorian community.

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Victoria’s Covid commander Jeroen Weimar has revealed there are now “a few cases” of the Covid strain dubbed ‘son of Omicron’ in the Victorian community, but it is “less than a handful”.

A version of Omicron that is potentially even more contagious than the original strain, ‘son of Omicron’ could extend Australia’s deadly latest wave of cases, a leading health expert has warned.

Scientists are keeping a close watch on the recently discovered sub-variant, known as BA.2, to determine how its emergence could affect future pandemic spread.

Nicknamed ‘Omicron’s little brother’, it is believed to have emerged from a mutation of Omicron, referred to as B.1.1.529.

Omicron itself was a mutation of the Delta variant.

The latest variant has been detected in 40 other countries, accounting for a majority of most recent cases in some nations including India, Denmark and Sweden.

Scientists fear the ‘stealth’ variant could also be even harder to track than previous strains as it can only be confirmed through lab analysis rather than a PCR test.

News there were “a few” cases of ‘son of Omicron’ in the Victorian community came on Sunday came as Mr Weimar called for Victorians to hurry up and get their booster shots.

Nearly two million Victorians aged over 18 have received a vaccine boost, and 76,000 people have made booster appointments over the next week.

People wanting to get jabbed at state run vaccine hubs have been told there is less than a five minute wait.

“You’ll be in and out within half an hour to get your booster shot,” Mr Weimar said.

“You’ll be in and out before you can finish a Golden Gaytime ice cream.”

There are more than 6500 vaccination bookings available for children aged 5-11 across 36 state run clinics this weekend.

While two million people have had their third jab, another two million are overdue. Picture: Julianne Osborne

He said the booster rollout needed to be sped up.

“It’s not a runaway train,” he said.

“There is absolutely a sense of urgency (to get boosted) . . . if you get a booster, you are far less likely to end up in hospital with Omicron.”

Victoria recorded 12,250 new cases and 31 Covid deaths in the past 24 hours.

There are now 953 infected people in Victorian hospitals, with 114 in intensive care and 39 on ventilators.

A total of 31,422 PCR tests were taken on Wednesday and 22,139 vaccines were administered at state hubs.

KIDS NOT VAXXED FOR SCHOOL

Just under half of Victorian primary students will have received their first Covid vaccine in time for the start of term 1 as schools gear up for surveillance testing.

Hundreds of thousands of the 578,000 children aged five to 11 in will return to the classroom without their first dose of the paediatric Pfizer vaccine that became available on January 10.

With 216,958 kids vaccinated by Friday, about 62 per cent of the young cohort are yet to be jabbed.

Health Minister Martin Foley on Friday said Victoria had hopes of vaccinating every eligible child.

About 62 per cent of school-aged children are yet to be vaccinated against Covid-19. Picture: Mark Stewart.

“We want to see every one of those, who are eligible, to get vaccinated. That’s our target. That’s how we’re going to drive down the Omicron variant, and that’s how we’re going to be best positioned for whatever curveball the global pandemic (next) pitches at us,” he said.

Four million rapid antigen tests (RATs) have been delivered to state, independent and catholic schools in Victoria, but independent Education Union general secretary Deb James said she remained concerned about the Omicron variant transmitting between teaching staff and students gathered in large groups while most students remained unvaccinated.

Another 2.6 million tests are expected to arrive by Monday.

Ms James said she hoped walk-in paediatric vaccine doses becoming available on Thursday would help drive the number of children jabbed as the school term progressed.

“We remain deeply concerned at the policy which allows close contacts to return to school instead of spending a week in isolation,” she said.

“Vaccinations remain an essential element of minimising the impact of Covid on our schools and the community.

“In combination, these measures will help minimise disruptions to school operations, which we all need after such a testing couple of years.”

Kids will go back to school on Monday, despite only a portion of primary school-aged children being vaccinated against Covid-19. Picture: David Crosling.

While AMA Victoria president Roderick McCrae, who in December called for school holidays to be extended to get more jabs in kids’ arms before school began, said the number of vaccinated primary school aged children was currently “inadequate”, the young cohort faced a lower likelihood of classroom disruptions or becoming seriously ill if they tested positive.

“There are inadequate numbers with one dose. Everybody has to sensibly anticipate a massive increase in Covid infections within the staff, too,” Mr McCrae said.

“But when you look at it from the experience of the child, they personally will have a very low incidence of illness,” he said.

Australian Education Union Victorian Branch president Meredith Peace said boosting vaccinations through walk-ups would boost students’ and staff’s safety at school.

“Allowing walk-up access for children aged five to 11 in state-run clinics, as well as expanding pop-up vaccination hubs for this cohort is certainly a welcome move. It will help increase teachers, parents, and students’ confidence in a safe return to schools,” Ms Peace said.

“The union is hearing from members across the state that the air purifier rollout is progressing smoothly, and the RATs have arrived in many, but not all, schools,” she said.

“Ensuring a constant supply of RATs and masks is critical to ensuring our schools are as safe as possible, and we will continue to monitor the situation closely as students return to schools next week.”

Ms Peace said the AEU would monitor the surveillance testing rollout across schools and work with the Department of Health to address concerns raised by teaching staff in the coming weeks.

Ms James said: We all know that the next month will be highly challenging for schools as we grapple with the highly transmissible Omicron variant.

But Mr Foley said health authorities were anticipating an uptick in cases with more than one million students returning to the classroom.

“We think that we’re in a position to respond quickly to that,” he said.