A new COVID-19 strain has been found to be 50 per cent more infectious than previous variants amid calls for greater vigilance this winter.
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Deakin University epidemiology chair Professor Catherine Bennett said the FU.1 strain was not a joke. It has been detected in southeast Asia and India.
"The names get very convoluted and that's why we tend to see these alternative names used, so it just distinguishes this one," Professor Bennett said.
Professor Bennett said FU.1 was more infectious than previous variants but, "it doesn't seem to be causing severe illness, which is the good news."
The FU.1 strain was initially found in Thailand in May 2023. Professor Bennet said there weren't any reported hospitalisations or deaths linked to the new variant despite its higher infectivity.
"It is reassuring that with the WHO data across the world, looking at all the regions, that generally hospitalisations are on the decline," she said.
"So that's helpful. If this is in the southeast Asian region in particular, we're not actually seeing it resulting in more people that are very unwell at this stage."
Professor Bennett said Australians should be cautious of FU.1 during the winter period.
"It might just contribute to another surge during our winter period - we do want to be on alert if we have another variant in the mix," she said.
There has been a decrease in weekly COVID deaths this year. 205 weekly COVID-19 deaths were recorded between June 23 and June 30 - compared to 523 weekly COVID deaths between January 20 and January 27.
Nationally, COVID cases are also down with a rolling 7-day average of 1868 on June 27- compared to a weekly average of 108,550 on January 17.
Hospitalisations dropped from a peak last month to 1871 nationally in the latest report. ICU admissions were reported at 41.
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