Here's the latest variant picture for Australia:

The BA.5.* lineages continue to fade, down to 38% of recent samples. Recently infected Australians are about 2:1 more likely to have caught one of the many new lineages.

There's continued recent growth from the BA.2.75.* lineages (23%) - the leading challenger. The BA.2.75.* clan includes the BR.2.1 and BN.1.3 lineages, and many more. These seem far more prevalent in New South Wales (details below).

BQ.* lineages also continue to grow steadily (20%). These seem far more prevalent in South Australia (details below).

The X* lineages are growing more slowly (13%). The X* clan of recombinant lineages includes the new XBF lineage, which is showing strong growth - mostly in Victoria (details below).

Recent sample sizes are smaller, but the daily sizes look representative up to Nov 10 (see grey column chart). Representative recent samples have been shared from most states - SA lags about a week and WA about 2 weeks. Samples shared from the ACT lag by over a month now, and samples have not been shared from the NT for many months.

#COVID19 #Australia #BR_2 #BQ #XBF @auscovid19
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Here's the latest variant picture for Australia:

The BA.5.* lineages continue to fade, down to 43% of recent samples. So if you recently encountered an infectious Australian, they were more likely to be carrying one of the many new lineages.

There's continued recent growth from the BA.2.75.* lineages (22%) - the leading challenger. The BA.2.75.* clan includes the BR.2.1 and BN.1.3 lineages, and many more (details below).

BQ.* lineages also continue to grow steadily (19%). These seem far more prevalent in South Australia and seem to be taking off in Queensland (details below).

The X* lineages are growing more slowly (9%). The X* clan of recombinant lineages includes the new XBF lineage, which is showing strong growth - mostly in Victoria (details below).

Recent sample sizes are smaller, but the daily sizes look impressively representative up to Nov 3 (see grey column chart). I've truncated a handful of very recent samples from NSW, which look like selective sampling. Representative recent samples have been shared from all the states, which is unusual. Hopefully this effort can be sustained. Samples shared from the ACT lag by several weeks, and samples have not been shared from the NT for many months.

#COVID19 #Australia #BR_2 #BQ #XBF @auscovid19
🧵

Here's the latest variant picture for Australia:

The BA.5.* lineages continue to fade, down to 55% of recent samples.

There's continued recent growth from the BA.2.75.* lineages (22%) - the leading challenger. BQ.* lineages also continue to grow steadily (12%).

Recent sample sizes are smaller. The last 5 days of samples shown are all from NSW.

#COVID19 #Australia #Centaurus #BR_2 #BQ
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