It is believed the world's most contagious COVID-19 variant, is just a short stroll away.
The 'Kraken' variant has just been detected in Australia, and is spreading like wildfire across the globe.
University of Otago Professor of Biochemistry, Kurt Krause, told the Today FM news team the US is really feeling its impact.
"For example, 70 percent of new infections are caused by this variant and it has gone from maybe 20 percent of cases two weeks ago to, last week, [being] 40 percent of cases."
As the 'Kraken' variant takes hold overseas there are concerns the country is falling behind in the rollout of bivalent booster shots.
New Zealand's medicine advice board Medsafe has granted provisional approval for the jab - which targets two strains, but the board has not yet decided when it'll be made available.
Krause told Today FM Europe and North America are way ahead in terms of the new boosters.
"Bivalent boosters are boosters that have omicron activity as well as original Wuhan activity and it certainly would make sense for us to be looking at those quite seriously now."
While Krause said the new variant is alarming, it is not more deadly.
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