A Covid variant that is more contagious and surging across the US has been discovered in Ireland.
Variant XBB.1.5, known as Kraken, has been deemed "concerning" by health officials. There have been less than five cases discovered here according to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre.
But the variant has a transmission rate that is 113% higher than other variants that are found in Europe. There are concerns that the new variant will have an "increasing" effect on the number of cases on the continent, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has said.
