Hong Kong uncovers new Covid strain in local sewage waters but officials say it’s unlikely to cause severe illness

A new Covid-19 variant has been detected in Hong Kong’s sewage waters, health authorities have said, but stressed there is no evidence to suggest the strain can cause more severe symptoms than other offshoots.

The Centre for Health Protection said the KP.2 strain was discovered as part of sewage surveillance work, but added that JN.1 remained the most prevalent variant in the city as of Tuesday.

“But the current information does not suggest JN.1 or KP.2 will cause a more severe disease than the previously prevalent XBB and its descendant lineages,” the centre said in its weekly Covid and flu report published on Thursday.

Health authorities also said the latest sewage surveillance data as of Tuesday showed JN.1 and its descendant lineages accounted for 98.8 per cent of all detected specimens.