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Health anxiety in Australia/New variant of COVID-19 spreads

2025-04-02 20:44:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Health anxiety in Australia/New variant of COVID-19 spreads

Australia is facing the emergence of a new variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, about five years since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic.

The latest variant, LP.8.1, is on the rise, accounting for about one in five COVID-19 cases in New South Wales. It has become the third most dominant strain of the virus in the state.

First detected in July 2024, LP.8.1 is a descendant of Omicron, specifically KP.1.1.3, which is derived from JN.1, a subvariant that caused large waves of COVID infections around the world in late 2023 and early 2024.

The World Health Organization (WHO) designated LP.8.1 as a variant under monitoring in January in response to its significant increase globally.

The global health agency has assessed the additional public health risk LP.8.1 poses globally as low.

The symptoms of LP.8.1 do not appear to be more severe than other circulating strains, meaning the variant is unlikely to make a major difference to the trajectory of the pandemic.

So far this year, Australia has recorded nearly 45,000 new cases of COVID-19, while around 260 people are currently in hospital with the virus.

The real number of cases is probably much higher as many people are no longer getting tested or reporting their infections.

Current vaccines for COVID-19, including the latest available JN.1 vaccines, are still expected to provide good protection against symptomatic and severe disease with LP.8.1./CNA

 





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