Revealed: New variant behind coronavirus case spike in NSW

Health officials have revealed a new variant of Covid-19 is contributing to a case spike in NSW, issuing an urgent warning.

A substrain of the Omicron variant of coronavirus is contributing to a jump in NSW infections, officials have confirmed.

The BA. 2 subvariant tends to spread faster than the original version and could become dominant in NSW.

The NSW government has seen modelling that suggests infections could double within the next four to six weeks, officials told a budget estimates hearing on Thursday.

“Anyone who’s been watching the numbers over the past few days would have seen an apparent rise in cases. That is concerning for us,” Health Minister Brad Hazzard said.

Acting chief health officer Marianne Gale said her team was looking into the new subvariant of Omicron.

“The dominant sublineage until recently has been BA. 1, what we are seeing is an increase (in BA. 2) and we are still undertaking further analysis to try to get a better sense and a better handle on it,” she said.

She said BA. 2 had become dominant in other countries where it's spreading.

Dr Gale said NSW cases were likely to increase until next month or even May.

Acting chief health officer Marianne Gale and Health Minister Brad Hazzard answered questions on Thursday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

“While the community may have gone to sleep on the virus, the virus hasn’t gone to sleep in the community,” Mr Hazzard said.

There were 16,288 community cases reported on Thursday, about 3000 more than the day before.

There are other likely factors behind the increase as well.

People have started to mix with each other more, go back to work in offices, and send their children to school, all of which helped the virus spread, Dr Gale said.

“All of those things play a role and probably are working in combination,” she said.

Mr Hazzard said it was important for everyone who is eligible to get a booster dose of coronavirus vaccine.

“If everybody were boosted, I wouldn't be as concerned,” Mr Hazzard said.

“So many people have become very relaxed and don't seem to think Omicron still exists, don’t think the virus still exists.

“It does. And it‘s out there and it’s doing his damnedest to get through the community.”

Only 56.3 per cent of people over 16 have received their third vaccine dose.

Originally published as Revealed: New variant behind coronavirus case spike in NSW