A South African man who tested positive for the variant was found to have a genetically different version of virus strain.... He is currently isolating at a quarantine hotel in Brisbane. Yvette D' Ath, Queensland's health minister, confirmed the case meant that Omicron now has two lineages classified by the international committee. The new sister of the variant does not have one of the genes that are used to identify the Omicron strain, the World Health Organisation says. This means the shortcu

There have been six confirmed fatalities, one reportedly a child.... There was music and smiles and three seconds later, therewere people screaming."" The car accelerated and by the time we realized something was up, everyone was on the ground.... " What was supposed to be a great party turned into a drama....

SYDNEY, Australia — Three days after the emergence of a rare Covid-19 case in Sydney, around 40 friends gathered for a birthday party.... “ We may be able to get it under control this time, but it’s just going to be harder and harder.” The Delta mutation has already raced from Sydney across Australia, carried on flights and by people visiting schools, hospitals, hair salons and a mass vaccination hub.... Half of the country’s 25 million people have been ordered to stay home as the caseload, no

“ If we’re not stuck, it’s like we’re waiting in the glue or mud, ” said Terry Nolan, head of the Vaccine and Immunization Research Group at the Doherty Institute in Melbourne, Australia, a city of five million that is just emerging from its latest lockdown.... While Americans celebrate what feels like a new dawn, for many of Asia’s 4.6 billion people, the rest of this year will look a lot like the last, with extreme suffering for some and others left in a limbo of subdued normalcy.Or there cou