Omicron has a new spawn.
Mask mandates may have lifted, and people are hugging again (when they want to), but let’s not get ahead of ourselves: It doesn’t look like the pandemic is over just yet. Three years in, a new, highly contagious variant has just emerged and it might be the most transmissible one yet.
The new strain, “Arcturus” or XBB.1.16, could be as much as 1.2 times more infectious than the last major sub-variant, Kraken, according to researchers from the University of Tokyo, who expect the strain to “spread worldwide in the near future.”
Luckily, officials already have it on their radar. XBB.1.16 was first detected in January and most cases have been in India. In fact, it has gotten so bad there that the country’s health ministry has held mock drills to ensure that hospitals are prepared for rising cases. Then in April, the World Health Organization deemed XBB.1.16 a “variant of interest.”
After outbreaks in several states like New York and Georgia, the variant now appears to be spreading across the U.S. But for now, health officials say it’s too early to tell what kind of impact it will have: “We haven’t seen an increase in any of the indicators that make us worry,” Ali Mokdad, a professor of global health at the University of Washington, told NBC News.
That said, Arcturus may not be just another run-of-the-mill variant — here’s what we know so far.
What is the new Covid variant?
Arcturus is technically the Omicron subvariant XBB.1.16 that scientists say is “robustly resistant” to antibodies from previous Covid variants, including “stealth Omicron” BA.2 and BA.5, both of which surged last summer.
Combined with its heightened transmissibility, mutations of the new variant could potentially make it more difficult for the immune system to fight, leading to an uptick in cases, even in places that have just had spikes in Covid infections.
What are Arcturus’ symptoms?
The main symptoms of the new variant resemble those of Omicron: Fever, cough, and a sore throat. But one symptom that might be unique to this particular Covid strain is conjunctivitis, or “sticky eyes,” which is basically pinkeye that feels itchy but comes without the pus.
Doctors in India are seeing these symptoms primarily among kids, especially those under 12 years old. “Usually, these children come with simple respiratory infections of cough, cold, and fever, and when tested they turn out to be positive,” local pediatrician Dr. Rahul Nagpal told India Today.
Is the new Covid variant spreading to the U.S. yet?
Arcturus has caused a major uptick in infections across India — there were 7,830 new Covid cases in a single day at one point, according to the health ministry data. In response, the Indian government has started implementing measures to slow its spread, including increased testing, vaccinations, and mandatory mask-wearing in public places, according to the BBC. Still, it’s important to note that Covid-related hospitalizations and deaths have not risen in the country just yet.
Since then, Arcturus has also been detected in 22 other countries, including the U.K. and the U.S., but the good news is that it hasn’t been rapidly spiking at a global level. According to health officials, Covid-19 still remains the leading cause of death around the world and the U.S., where it’s currently linked to about 250 daily deaths. So for now, the Centers for Disease Control hasn’t broken it out into its own watch category and it’s still aggregated under the Omicron variant, XBB.
But that doesn’t mean the spread of XBB.1.16 isn’t a concern. It has become more prevalent in some regions of the country like Texas and Arkansas, accounting for roughly 21 percent of all Covid cases. What’s worse is traces of it have been identified via airport surveillance. “These kinds of things highlight the importance of genomic surveillance but a lot of countries, including our own, have let our guards down a bit and we can’t be sure what variants are around and what level of infection they’re causing until we see a significant outbreak,” U.K. virologist Lawrence Young told The Independent.
