Australia is facing the regular emergence of new variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus more than five years since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic.
The latest variant -- LP.8.1 -- is on the rise, making up close to one in five COVID-19 cases in New South Wales, local broadcaster SBS News reported Wednesday.
It has become the third most dominant strain in the state
First detected in July 2024, LP.8.1 is a descendant of Omicron, specifically of KP.1.1.3, which is descended 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 growth globally.
The global health agency has evaluated the additional public health risk LP.8.1 poses at a global level to be low.
The symptoms of LP.8.1 do not appear to be any more severe than other circulating strains, meaning the variant is not likely to make a big difference to the trajectory of the pandemic.
So far this year, Australia has recorded close to 45,000 new COVID-19 cases, while around 260 people are currently in hospital with the virus.
The real number of cases is probably far higher as many people are no longer testing or reporting their infections.
Current COVID-19 vaccines, including the most recently available JN.1 shots, are still expected to offer good protection against symptomatic and severe disease with LP.8.1.
