New highly transmissible Omicron variants on the march in Australia
It's expected the BA.5 variant will soon be dominant, leading to many re-infections, an infectious diseases physician says
Australians should brace for a fresh wave of COVID-19 infections this winter as a new variant of concern is on the verge of becoming dominant in the most populous state, experts warn.
A NSW respiratory surveillance report indicates the prevalence of the Omicron subvariant BA.5 has “increased substantially”, making up nearly a quarter of COVID-19 infections that underwent genome sequencing last week.
It also shows that between the weeks ending 28 May and 4 June, sequencing reveals a tripling of BA.5 infections while infections caused by the BA.2 variant have halved.
“It is expected that BA.4 and BA.5 will become the dominant strains and will likely be associated with an increase in infections in the coming weeks,” the report states.
