A 'more contagious' subspecies of Omicron was discovered in Australia

The Australian Department of Health confirmed on Friday “a very low number” of cases of the new “stealth” sub-variant has been detected in most Australian states, three in NSW.

 

The subvariant is believed to be more transmissible than previous strains, becoming the dominant variant in Denmark in just a fortnight, along with South Africa – the original epicenter of Omicron.

 

“Most states and territories in Australia have detected a very low number of the Omicron sub-variant BA.2 in respiratory samples submitted for testing,” a spokesperson told Yahoo News Australia in a statement.

 

NSW Health confirmed there have been three recent cases of Covid-19 with the BA.2 Omicron variant identified in the state.