A fifth wave of Omicron-variant COVID is silently sweeping across the Australian population this winter – albeit at a much slower rate than previous waves, news.com.au is reporting.
Experts believe this latest Omicron has been slowly growing since February and is stubbornly refusing to leave.
While the variant itself appears to be less severe than previous variants, Australia’s high levels of vaccination, coupled with shrinking rates of COVID testing, mean this latest wave is refusing to budge.
The slow and drawn-out nature of the current wave is most likely due to the sequential emergence and spread of new Omicron sub-variants.
The current wave started with XBB.1.5, then shifted to XBB.1.9.1 and XBB.1.9.2, then most recently XBB.1.16. Each sub-variant has been able to spread where the previous one could not.
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