Experts urge more testing as new COVID-19 variant emerges

The mutation is called EG5 and has much the same symptoms as Omicron. EG.5 is a subvariant of the descendent lineage of XBB of the virus.

It’s been found in 51 countries so far, but the WHO says that’s probably because these countries are more proactive about testing for the virus.

The variant has been reported in China, Korea, Japan, and Canada amongst other countries, but Maria Van Kerkhove, who sits on an expert panel which advises the WHO said the figures should be used with caution.

She added that with only half of the world carrying out testing for the virus, it’s understandable that the spread of EG5 is far more widespread than the testing suggests.Kerkhove also cautioned against making assumptions about where the virus mutation started.

“I think the notion that the variants can emerge from one country or another is false and it's dangerous because you think that the problem is somewhere else," she said.

"The virus is circulating so much right now that it's been evolving.”

Kerkhove added that EG5 accounted for 17.4 per cent of positive test sequences.

“This is not a dominant variant worldwide, we classify it as a variant of interest because it has an increased growth rate and we expect that it will increase in detection around the world," she said. 

"But surveillance and sequencing remain quite limited. So it's very difficult for us to say what is circulating everywhere.”

EG5 has been categorised as being of interest because it’s very transmissible. The WHO has also noted that the virus was not as seasonal as in the past.

Extreme summer heat means more people are likely to be in their homes in the Northern Hemisphere summer to take refuge somewhere cool.