A new COVID-19 strain is spreading rapidly across the world and has already caused five deaths in the UK, according to a new UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) report.
Variant XBB.1.16, nicknamed Arcturus, has been reported in 34 countries as of April 17 and has been isolated from 3,715 global cases, the UKHSA said in a technical briefing. It appears to have a growth advantage over previous variants and is expected to rise in prevalence.
It is currently most common in India, with 61 percent of global cases originating there. From there, the USA, Singapore, Australia, and Canada make up the rest of the majority of cases. In the UK, Arcturus can be found in every region apart from the North East.
With its prevalence on the rise, there have now been five recorded deaths as a result of Arcturus in the UK, though it is not thought to be any more dangerous when compared to other COVID-19 strains. XBB.1.16 is a subvariant of Omicron, as are all “Variants of Concern” that have been detected in the UK over the past 12 weeks.
“XBB.1.16 is very closely related to XBB.1.5 (two mutations, one in the spike protein), the currently dominant variant in the UK,” Professor Francois Balloux, Professor of Computational Systems Biology and Director of the UCL Genetics Institute, commented.
“In places that didn’t have an XBB.1.5 wave (e.g. India or China), it is expected to do well (as did XBB.1.5). Conversely, in places like the UK, it is not expected to have much of an impact on case numbers, and even less so, on hospitalisations and deaths. XBB.1.16 is still at low frequency here in the UK, but it may become the next dominant variant in the future.”
There have been reports that the new variant is also causing conjunctivitis, or “pink eye”, in children in India, though this has not been confirmed.
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