Two new Covid variants have been identified as global cases continue to rise. In the UK, hospitals have reinstated mask mandates as wards reach capacity and coronavirus hospitalisations increase.
The recent spike in cases has been attributed to FLiRT variants KP2 and JN1, but health experts now report the discovery of two additional variants. Amid Australia’s winter-driven Covid surge, Queensland’s chief health officer John Gerrard announced they are monitoring variants named FLuQE and de-FLiRT.
Covid has become the third leading cause of death in Australia, marking the first time in 50 years that an infectious disease has claimed so many lives.
The FLuQE variant is reportedly spreading rapidly in the USA. In the UK, the most recent figures show a week-on-week increase of 33.5% in detected Covid cases.
England reported 146 Covid-related deaths, a 5% increase, reports Gloucestershire Live.
Adrian Esterman, a biostatistician at the University of South Australia, said: “It’s really starting to take off and in America, it’s starting to skyrocket.”
Professor Esterman warned that FLuQE could be more transmissible and better at evading immunity.
Professor Paul Griffin from the University of Queensland told SBS: “We’re sicker than usual this winter, and we’re seeing a lot of things circulated simultaneously.”
He revealed that FLuQE has now overtaken FLiRT as the most common variant. During the peak of the pandemic, UK health officials kept a close eye on Australia’s Covid situation to predict the potential impact on Britain in the upcoming winter.