Queensland Health says a new strain of COVID-19 detected in travellers from Papua New Guinea isn't a "lineage of concern".
Key points:
- Travel between PNG and Australia is restricted
- A viral strain from PNG has been found in some cases in Queensland
- Queensland virologist Kirsty Short says as the virus spreads, more strains and mutations will emerge
PNG has a growing coronavirus crisis, with half the 500 test results from the country that have been analysed by Queensland Health showing a positive result for COVID-19.
Travel has been restricted as Australia seeks to avoid importing the virus from one of its nearest neighbours.
A Queensland Health spokeswoman has now confirmed that a viral strain known to be from PNG has been detected in some of the cases found in Queensland since the start of the year.
"From 1 January to 25 March 2021 … Queensland Health has been notified of 64 cases of COVID-19 in people with a history of travel in or transit through Papua New Guinea," the spokeswoman said in a statement.
"Currently the variant most commonly detected in travellers from Papua New Guinea is the B.1.466.2 lineage, which is not a lineage of concern.
"This is the new name for the specific B.1 strain mentioned as circulating in PNG."
The PNG variant is understood not to be as infectious as the UK and South African strains.
University of Queensland virologist Kirsty Short said the emergence of a PNG strain of coronavirus served as a warning that all countries needed to get the pandemic under control.
Dr Short said as the virus spread, more strains and mutations would emerge.
"What it does tell us is that these mutations are happening and, if we let this outbreak continue, there'll be more and more mutations, with potentially the opportunity for variants of concern to emerge," Dr Short said.
She said some mutations of the virus had produced more severe infections.
Queensland recorded three more cases of COVID-19 overnight, all acquired overseas, one of them in PNG.
Meanwhile, fragments of coronavirus have been detected at a wastewater treatment plant at Luggage Point at Pinkenba, which treats sewage from north Brisbane and some southern suburbs.
Queensland Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young urged anyone with symptoms to get tested, saying it was critical that any cases of the virus were detected.
"We are concerned by the new variants that are emerging overseas that are more contagious than previous variants we have seen in Queensland," Dr Young said.
"It's also possible that this detection relates to previous COVID-19 cases that can shed viral fragments for a couple of months after they are no longer infectious."
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2021-03-25 07:16:13Z
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