A new COVID-19 variant has been detected in Victoria that is of significant concern as it is not linked to any other outbreaks across the country.
On Friday morning, Victorias Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said the health team received sequencing overnight that found the new variant, which is unrelated to all of the other cases in the Melbourne cluster.
It came from one of the original cases in West Melbourne that travelled to Jervis Bay in NSW and is believed to have been transmitted between two children.
That variant is the Delta variant. It is infamous in India and in the United Kingdom. It is a variant of significant concern, Sutton said.
Victorias Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said the health team received sequencing overnight that found the new variant. Credit: JAMES ROSS/AAPIMAGE
It has not been linked to any sequence cases across Australia from hotel quarantine or anywhere else that it is not linked in Victoria or any other jurisdiction.
Sutton said the working theory is the strain was spread between two grade five students and it is not clear where the first case is.
It does appear to be the most significant in terms of transmissibility, he said.
There isnt much information about severity of illness with this variant, although there are some anecdotal reports of greater severity of illness in children as well as potential increased transmissibility in children.
We have concerns for that reason.
The family infected with the new variant travelled to Jervis Bay and Sutton said it is within the bounds of possibility they picked it up in NSW.
We are examining who is the likely index case in this family, and therefore trying to trace back, where this variant has been picked up, Sutton said.
Were working with our New South Wales, ACT and Commonwealth counterparts in that regard.
While the variant has not been in the community before, it has been seen in hotel quarantine in Victoria and other states.
