Australia finds highly infectious Delta variant in Melbourne virus outbreak

Police on bicycles patrol in Melbourne with the coronavirus lockdown of Australia's second-biggest city to be extended by another seven days

* Delta variant unlinked to other cases in outbreak * Four new cases in Victoria vs three on Thursday * Melbourne begins extended lockdown for another week Australia's Victoria state authorities said on Friday they had detected the highly infectious Delta Covid-19 virus variant for the first time in the latest outbreak in Melbourne, stoking concerns of a major spike in cases. The Delta variant, which has been classified by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as among the four Covid-19 variants of concern due to evidence that they spread more easily, likely caused the latest devastating outbreak in India. ‘It is a variant of significant concern,’ Victoria state Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton told reporters in Melbourne. ‘The fact that it is a variant different to other cases it means it is not related, in terms of transmission, with these cases.’