WELLINGTON, May 8 (Xinhua/APP) –: New Zealand reported its first case of Omicron BA.5 variant at the border amid 12,392 community cases during the weekend, said the Ministry of Health in a statement on Sunday.
A person who has travelled from South Africa to New Zealand has been confirmed as having the BA.5 variant of Omicron. This is the first known detection of the variant in New Zealand, said the ministry.
According to the ministry, this follows the detection of BA.4 on May 1, also in a person who had travelled from South Africa.
It can take weeks or months to assess the severity of each new variant or sub-variant, so the Ministry of Health will continue to monitor the emerging evidence closely, it is said.
Microbiologist Associate Professor Siouxsie Wiles from the University of Auckland was worried about “all versions of Omicron around” and “variants of the virus we don’t yet know about but are almost certainly out there evolving away.”
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