New COVID-19 variant spreading in Australia

A new COVID-19 variant, LB.1, hit Australia as health experts warned that it could spread faster than previous variants, local media said on Saturday.

The country's health department spokesperson said that there had been confirmed cases of LB.1 in Australia, SBS News reported.

Health experts also warned that the new variant could spread faster than the previous variants.

"Although LB.1 is almost certainly more transmissible than KP.2, it doesn't appear to be outperforming KP.3 and its descendants," the broadcaster quoted Professor Adrian Esterman, chair of biostatistics and epidemiology at the University of South Australia, as saying.

Paul Griffin, an infectious disease physician and clinical microbiologist at the University of Queensland, also said that the country could appear to be nearing a peak in coronavirus cases this winter, but he added that it's difficult to tell that it could cause a new wave of infections.

"We had a large wave of COVID activity and that does seem to be stalling, but there is still quite a lot at the moment," he said.