The new Covid strain, dubbed “Arcturus”, is causing concern around the world.
XBB.1.16, one of the alternatives from Omicron, is already wreaking havoc in parts of India.
Now it is starting to sweep the UK and the US.
But where else has this strain been spotted? Are there any new symptoms? Do vaccines still work against it? And why is it even called Arcturus?
Here, MailOnline breaks down everything you need to know about the new variant.
The new variant of Covid ‘Arcturus’ has led to a significant increase in cases in India over the past month
ONS analysts estimate that nearly 1.7 million Britons were carrying the virus on any given day in the week ending 13 March. This is a jump of nearly 14 percent from the previous week.
What is XBB.1.16?
XBB.1.16 is a mutant version of Omicron XBB, a strain that was first discovered in India in August.
The original XBB strain – a fusion of BA.2.10.1 and BA.2.75 – quadrupled cases in just one month in some countries.
Other sub-variants of Omicron include Kraken (XBB.1.5) and Orthrus (CH.1.1).
According to the UK’s Health Security Agency, the Kraken was the dominant strain in the UK, as of March 26, causing 51 per cent of cases. Orthros was 10.4 percent behind.
Why is it called Arcturus?
Like similar new Covid variants, online virus trackers have decided to call XBB.1.16 “Arcturus” after a pattern of naming new strains after mythical entities.
Arcturus means “guardian of the bear” and is associated with the constellation called Ursa Major.
Why did he raise concern?
The World Health Organization (WHO) is currently monitoring Arcturus, as officials say it has some worrisome mutations.
“We haven’t seen a change in severity in individuals or in populations, but that’s why we have these systems in place,” said Dr Maria van Kerkhove, technical lead for Covid at the WHO.
“It has an additional spike protein mutation that has been shown in laboratory studies to increase infection as well as potentially increase potential pathogenicity,” she added.
This variant has led to an increase in the number of cases in India with the number of infections rising 13-fold over the past month, which has alarmed officials.
This has prompted the country’s health authorities to conduct drills in hospitals and re-enforce mask mandates in some areas.
A study by Japanese scientists also indicated that Arcturus is 1.2 times more infectious than the closely related Kraken Covid strain.
Uploading their findings to the biology research website bioRxiv, they wrote that this feature indicates that the new variant will “spread throughout the world in the near future.”
How fatal are the symptoms?
While the World Health Organization has confirmed that Arcturus has mutations in the spike protein that can increase its ability to infect people, there is currently no evidence to suggest that it increases the severity of the disease.
But the high number of cases could put health services under strain.
Symptoms of COVID-19 are usually known to include a high fever, cough, cold, and loss of taste or smell.
But frontline doctors in India claim to have seen a rise in infected children with conjunctivitis, which suggests it causes slightly different symptoms than other variants.
Vipin Vashishtha, Consultant Pediatrician at Mangla Hospital and Research Center and former official of the Indian Academy of Pediatrics, revealed that symptoms affecting children’s eyes have seen a sudden increase.
Vipin Vashishtha, Consultant Pediatrician at Mangla Hospital & Research Center and former organizer of the Indian Academy of Pediatrics, revealed that symptoms affecting children’s eyes have seen a sudden surge.
Where was it spotted?
According to WHO officials, XBB.1.16 was first detected in late January, and Dr. Kerkhov confirmed that it had been in circulation for a few months.
According to the latest data, the variant has since been spotted in 22 countries, but the largest outbreak to date has been in India.
India’s health ministry reported 10,158 new COVID cases today alone, nearly double the number (5,335) reported a week earlier, on April 6.
Yesterday, Maharashtra and Delhi also reported more than 1,000 daily cases, for the first time this year.
The data also shows that “Arcturus” has already reached more than half of all US states.
Chiefs of Health first spotted Arcturus, in New York in late January.
But it has since spread to 26 other states and caused 235 cases, with hot spots emerging in California, New Jersey and Virginia.
MailOnline also revealed yesterday that the alternative is already in the UK.
How many UK cases are there?
The UK Health and Security Agency said the variant was already in the UK in its final variant report released last month.
Separate data collected from different trackers indicate that the UK has now sequenced nearly 50 Arcturus specimens.
But Professor Paul Hunter, an infectious disease expert at the University of East Anglia, told MailOnline: ‘I suspect we will see a wave of infections of this type.
He said: “I doubt it will cause a large wave, perhaps not as strong as the one we just had in the UK”.
As a result, he added, it “will likely” not add additional pressure to the struggling NHS, which has struggled throughout the pandemic.
Do vaccines still work?
Early results indicate that “Arcturus” has no increased ability to evade protection from vaccines compared to other Omicron spin-offs.
Even if the vaccines do not work perfectly against the variant, immunity is likely to continue to linger, as most Britons have also been exposed to previous Omicron variants.
High levels of protection against the virus gave ministers the confidence to drop all Covid measures last year as the country transitioned to coexistence with the virus.
