Four cases of a new COVID-19 variant, called Mu, have been identified in Ireland.
The Health Protection Surveillance Centre says the cases were recorded before the end of last month.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has identified the Mu strain as a variant of interest, but not yet a variant of concern.
It has been found in at least 39 countries - and there are concerns it could evade vaccination.
In an update earlier this week, the WHO said: “The Mu variant has a constellation of mutations that indicate potential properties of immune escape.
“Since its first identification in Colombia in January 2021, there have been a few sporadic reports of cases of the Mu variant and some larger outbreaks have been reported from other countries in South America and in Europe.”
Health experts have noted that more research and studies are needed to understand the nature of Mu.
The variant currently accounts for 39% of cases in Colombia but is below 0.1% globally.
Delta - a more transmissible variant of COVID-19 - is now the dominant strain in many countries, with 170 countries having reported cases of the strain.
The HSPC says 98% of recent cases in Ireland have been identified as Delta.
Meanwhile, the latest figures from the Department of Health show 1,414 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in Ireland today.
