CANBERRA - Australia has reported cases of a new Covid-19 variant, LB.1, which health experts believe could spread more rapidly than earlier strains, according to local media reports.
According to Philippines News Agency, a spokesperson from the country's health department confirmed the presence of the LB.1 variant within Australia. Health professionals have raised concerns about the variant's potential for faster transmission compared to previous forms of the virus. Professor Adrian Esterman, chair of biostatistics and epidemiology at the University of South Australia, was quoted saying, "Although LB.1 is almost certainly more transmissible than KP.2, it doesn't appear to be outperforming KP.3 and its descendants." This suggests that while LB.1 is highly transmissible, it may not necessarily lead to a dominant strain over existing variants.
Paul Griffin, an infectious disease physician and clinical microbiologist at the University of Queensland, commented on the current Covid-19 situation, noting the possibility of reaching a peak in coronavirus cases this winter. However, he cautioned that it remains difficult to predict whether LB.1 will cause a new wave of infections. Griffin stated, "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," indicating ongoing concern about the spread of the virus amidst the emergence of new variants.