Australian Victoria reports Delta COVID variant in new appearance Coronavirus pandemic News

The new variant has not been linked sequentially to any other case in Australia, but patients traveled to New South Wales.

Authorities in the Australian state of Victoria say genomic sequencing has been detected for the first time among variants of the Delta COVID-19 virus, including Melbourne, the state capital and Australia’s second largest city.

“This variant is the Delta variant, it is now popular in India and is increasingly found in the UK. It is a variant of great concern,” Victoria State Health Director Brett Sutton told reporters in Melbourne on Friday.

Sutton said the new variant has not been linked to sequential COVID-19 cases in other parts of Australia, hotel quarantine or elsewhere.

So far, they have two so-called Victorian cases Delta variant of concern, Is believed to be behind the latest devastating wave of COVID-19 in India.

“The concern is that it’s not related to other cases, but we’re following all of these contacts in major cases … and we’re looking at where it could have been obtained,” Sutton said.

Following the latest update, The Sydney Morning Herald reported that he had been diagnosed with Delta strain in the days leading up to positive tests when the Melbourne family traveled to New South Wales (NSW).

Australian Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said federal health officials were meeting on Friday to discuss the news.

“That’s another mystery for us to work on,” he said.

Extended closure in Melbourne

Victoria, Australia’s second most populous state, is struggling to keep up with its latest outbreak – 65 cases since May 24 – after being without a case for more than three months, putting strong moves on people’s movements and closing large parts of the economy.

The government has linked all cases to a single passenger from the quarry next to South Australia after being negative.

Melbourne has entered a week of tough blockades but from Thursday night onwards other restrictions were eased in the state.

Authorities blamed the Kappa variant for spreading hard curbs in the city until June 10, when it was first detected in India, as it was described as a highly infectious strain.

The new cases have been in a single figure for eight days in a row. Four new locally acquired cases were reported on Friday, compared to three a day earlier.

Blockades, regional border restrictions and strict rules of social exclusion have largely helped Australia control and maintain previous outbreaks. The number of COVID-19 is relatively low at just over 30,100 cases and 910 dead.

As of Wednesday, more than 4.6 million vaccine doses have been administered in Australia, with a population of about 20 million.