New COVID variants have emerged in Victoria. Experts say Victoria could be at the start of another COVID wave, with the emergence of new Omicron subvariants.
The two new strains are the cause of rising case numbers overseas and now make up 10 per cent of Victoria’s current cases, according to wastewater testing.
The new variants are set to overtake BA.5 as the dominant variant for the state.
At a press briefing last week, Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said that these two new variants were driving up case numbers significantly overseas, as well as hospitalisation rates.
He warned that Victoria is at the beginning of a new wave of COVID, as cases rose 25 per cent in just one week.
Infectious diseases physician Associate Professor Paul Griffin has been quoted by the media as saying that “the emergence of new, more evasive subvariants, posed an increased threat to both vaccinated and previously infected people”.
“We’ve certainly seen people who have had COVID a few times: they’ve been hospitalised with their third or fourth infection and that’s the one that’s turned out to be more severe,” Griffin said.
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However, infectious disease expert Professor Peter Collignon told Today that there is no need to get too worried. “As viruses try to survive they develop slightly different mutations and that’s what’s happened this time… This disease is not going away but unless we can show it’s not responding to the vaccines, it’s causing more death and hospitalisation, we really shouldn’t get too worried.”
A report in Nature Portfolio says in Europe, North America and Africa, the prevalence of Omicron offshoots in the BQ.1 family is rising quickly, even as overall cases seem to fall. In Asian countries including Singapore, Bangladesh and India, a lineage called XBB has already set off fresh waves of infection. Scientists are closely watching several regions where both are circulating, to see which has the edge, the report said.
Health message
- Face masks can stop or slow viruses spreading in the air when talking, coughing, sneezing and laughing.
- Face masks lower the chance of catching and spreading an airborne virus.
- Mask wearing is strongly recommended if indoors in a public space or outside in a crowded place, where it’s not possible to physically distance.
- People who are at risk of severe COVID illness are encouraged to wear a mask whenever in public.
- Masks remain required in sensitive settings such as hospitals and care facilities.
(With NEMBC Multilingual News Service, Victoria)
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