New Covid strain Pirola hits Australia from the UK

A new Covid variant - dubbed Pirola and described as the most deadly strain of the virus since Omicron - has been detected in Australia.

Health officials are warning a new, highly mutated Covid-19 strain which has hit Australian shores could be difficult to contain.

The variant, which has been dubbed Pirola, has been described as the most deadly Covid strain since Omicron.

The World Health Organisation has designated Pirola a “variant under monitoring” due to its large number of mutations.

One case has been detected so far in Australia, in a laboratory in Western Australia, genomic sequencing data shows.

A spokesman for WA’s health department told news.com.au “PathWest has performed a genomic study of the BA. 2.86 strain and it is closely related – without significant differences – to those BA. 2.86 strains reported from other countries”.

The spokesman encouraged people to “stay vigilant” during this time due to the “large number of mutations” of Pirola.

Pirola has 33 changes to its spike proteins.

“There are more than 30 mutations, especially in the spike region, when compared to the Omicron strains that are circulating currently,” the spokesman said.

“The number of mutations is similar to the number of new mutations found in Omicron when compared to the strains circulating at the time it first emerged.”

The “high number of mutations” means that spike proteins, the membranes on the outside of the virus that allow it to enter and infect human cells, will change their shape.

“Having changed their shape, they may become more infectious, they may become more disease-causing,” Dr Bharat Pankhania, an infectious disease control expert, told Sky News.

Immunologist Kristian Anderson wrote on Twitter Pirola has all the “hallmark features of something that could take off, however, our immunity landscape is now complex, so it’s too early to say it will”.

He concluded by saying “I think it might”.

Experts are concerned about a new variant of Covid nicknamed Pirola.

Early detection

BA. 2.86 was first detected in Denmark on July 25, and it has also been spotted in the US and Israel.

The mutation was identified in the UK in early August in an individual with no recent travel history, the UK Health and Security Agency (UKHSA) said.

This means there could already be “significant community transmission” among Britons, the agency said.

An elderly man receives a Covid-19 vaccine in Qingzhou in China's eastern Shandong province last year. Picture: AFP

But the UKHSA said there is “insufficient data” to assess how serious the strain might be, or how likely it is that current vaccines will protect against it.

The symptoms appear to be similar to those caused by previous strains, Thomas Russo, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Buffalo medical school, told the Sydney Morning Herald.

Common ones include a runny nose, headache, fatigue, a sore throat and sneezing.

People who are older, have compromised immune systems or suffer from multiple other conditions are at higher risk for more severe effects. These may include lower respiratory disease, chest pain and shortness of breath.

Over the last week, 5069 cases of Covid-19 were reported. Picture: AFP

Experts believe most people have some level of “immune memory” which will allow their immune system to kick in and control the infection effectively

Epidemiologist Catherine Bennett told the ABC even though early research suggested Pirola may not be as deadly as initially believed it was important to watch.

“It’s not just about what this variant does and how it might impact us … it’s also the bigger picture,” Professor Bennett said.

“What could this mean for our future, if this [variant] builds a new viral genome platform on which more mutations can accumulate? Where does that take the virus and what does that mean for us?”

Huge Covid breakthrough

Over the last week, 5069 cases of Covid-19 were reported across Australia, an average of 724 cases per day.

But earlier this year scientists made a huge medical breakthrough cracking why some people appear to dodge Covid-19 and others don’t.

The research, published in Nature, shows that a person who carries one copy of the protective HLA-B15 gene is twice as likely to remain asymptomatic, while someone who carries two copies of the gene is eight times more likely to show no symptoms.

The researchers found that of 1428 unvaccinated donors with positive test results for Covid-19, 136 had no symptoms.

A high proportion of these asymptomatic donors were carrying the HLA-B15 gene, which was the first evidence of a genetic link.

The killer T cells, which help our bodies fight infection, had a strong immune response to Covid-19 in people with the HLA-B15 gene.

These killer T cells also had the capacity to recognise Covid-19 and its different variants, including the current Omicron variants.

La Trobe University lead researcher Professor Stephanie Gras said the study of infected but asymptomatic people could “enable us to identify new ways of promoting protection … by mimicking this immune ‘shield’ observed in individuals that can dodge Covid-19”.