A new COVID-19 variant called BA.2.86 has had its first case detected in Australia.

Nicknamed “Pirola” on social media in reference to the 1082 Pirola asteroid, the variant has been found in 15 countries through genomic sequencing.

According to the British Medical Journal, it is likely that the new variant has evolved from the Omicron subvariant BA.2.

In August, the World Health Organisation (WHO) labelled BA.2.86 a “variant under monitoring”.

The WHO has not upgraded the new strain to a “variant of concern”, meaning it has not yet been assigned a letter of the Greek alphabet like previous variants Omicron and Delta.

The Western Australia Health Department said the active case in Australia is “closely related – without significant differences – to those BA.2.86 strains reported from other countries.”

Although the virus has mutated, scientists say “Pirola” does not appear to be behaving differently from other variants.

Africa’s Centre for Disease Control has found that there is no evidence that BA.2.86 has increased the rate of transmission or risk of severe disease and hospitalisation.

Moderna said their latest booster protects against the new variant, even though it was modelled under a different strain.

If the WHO does upgrade “Pirola” to a variant of concern, it will likely be given the name Pi or Rho.

Photo: Coronavirus by CDC available HERE and used under a Creative Commons license. This image has not been modified.