'Dodged a bullet': Melbourne lockdown may have prevented more deadly Covid-19 variant

Researchers say the variant that swept Victoria during last year's second wave was mutating into something more worrying

A variant of Covid-19 similar to the one that spread rampantly in the UK would likely have developed in Victoria during last year's second wave had Melbourne not gone into an extended lockdown, a leading virologist says.

Associate Prof Stuart Turville from the Kirby Institute at the University of New South Wales said when his laboratory examined samples from patients as part of a study called ADAPT" in Sydney, they started to see key differences in those infected with the virus during the second wave.