Omicron JN.1 COVID-19 hit Victoria and New South Wales

A new Omicron JN.1 sub-variant of COVID-19 has hit across states of New South Wales and Victoria causing several infections.

Both states are seeing an alarming increase in infections and hospitalizations due to a new Omicron variant sub-lineage BA.2.86. This rise shows the “ninth wave” of COVID-19 cases, which comes after a previous phase happened six months ago.

A new Omicron sub-variant of COVID-19 is causing new waves of infection across New South Wales and Victoria.https://t.co/RydiYxO6Dt
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) January 9, 2024

Health officials in Victoria issued a health alert regarding this variant. The World Health Organization (WHO) designated it as a ‘variant of interest’ due to its rapidly growing global spread.

Victoria’s Chief Health Officer, Dr. Clare Looker, looked at the virus’s growth pattern and found it spread in phases instead of returning to normal levels.

Doctor Clare said it was unfortunate that Omicron JN.1 COVID-19 hit just as Victoria was coming out of an earlier COVID-19 wave. Another thing that has caused some worry about this new variant is how quickly it spreads. It has quickly become the most popular variant in the community in just a few weeks.

Click here to read the updates on Tonga volcanic eruption 2022 affecting the weather in Australia

The number of hospitals in Victoria has increased with an average of 377 per year across the whole state. This is a considerable increase compared to the normal of 326 in December. The peak of the current trend is likely to happen in the next few weeks.

While NSW Health has yet to disclose COVID-19 data for 2024. However, new COVID-19 variant activity in NSW was at “high levels” in the final week of 2023.

Health professionals advise a booster vaccine for vulnerable individuals to prevent this new sub-variant. They also emphasize the newly developed monovalent vaccine’s effectiveness against the BA.2.86 subvariant.

The Australian government continues to urge the public to be vaccinated as a crucial step in preventing the virus from spreading further and following health standards.