The first case of the new strain of the Delta variant of COVID-19 known as 'Delta Plus' was reported in Australia on Saturday.
It was detected at a government quarantine hotel in Sydney and is so far the only case of the variant detected in Australia.
The 'Delta Plus' variant, formally known as 'AY.4.2', is the fastest-growing coronavirus strain in the UK.
Cases numbers have been growing rapidly in Britain since its easing of restrictions in July, with the UK reporting 41,278 coronavirus cases and 166 related deaths on Saturday.
'Delta Plus' is a mutation of the commonly known and highly transmissible Delta strain that has plunged Auckland into 74 days and counting of lockdown.
The variant was first reported in a Public Health England bulletin on June 11, with some experts saying 'Delta Plus' appears to be 10 to 15 percent more transmissible than the original Delta variant.
Australia's chief health officer Paul Kelly addressed the variant at a press conference last week as he tried to control the increasing speculation and ease the nerves of Australians.
"Just to be clear, this is not a new variant, it is not a variant of concern or even of interest at the moment but we continue to have that very close vigilance of the international situation, to watch out for what next variant may come from this virus," prof Kelly told reporters, according to 7 News.
"In the UK there is a lot of circulating virus there, mainly in teenagers, they have re-commenced school at the moment.
"A lot of cases in teenagers and their parents... but very importantly, there has not been the same sort of rises we have seen in previous waves into the UK in relation to hospitalisations or deaths and that is because vaccination rollout in the UK has also been very successful."
The outbreak in New South Wales peaked at just above 1500 cases a day and has been falling for more than a fortnight as vaccination takes effect.
On Saturday, it was announced that NSW had 236 new cases in three deaths while Victoria, which has become the epicentre of the outbreak in Australia, reported 1355 infections.
