Five people have died in the UK after contracting the Arcturus Covid-19 strain, according to national reports. The variant has spread rapidly across the world and has led to face mask rules being introduced in India.
The Mirror reports Arcturus is present in all regions of England, with the exception of the North East. A technical briefing from the UK Health and Security Agency (UKHSA), shows there are at at least 135 cases of the strain, known officially as Omicron XBB.1.16, in the country.
This was mostly concentrated in England, where there were 120 cases of the variant, but Wales had eight cases, Scotland had five, and Northern Ireland had two as well. As of earlier this month, Arcturus was present in at least 28 countries, with the majority of those cases, over 2,000, in India.
As things stand, health chiefs warn that there is no evidence to suggest the new variant is more severe than past ones. However, the new outbreak has seemingly brought on unique symptoms not previously seen in coronavirus >Covid strains.
Reports from doctors in India, where the strain is rife, have said they are seeing more children and adolescents with the variant presenting with conjunctivitis - or pink eye. Indian paediatrician Vipn M. Vashishtha, also a member of the WHO's Vaccine Safety Net programme, said youngsters were presenting with a high fever, cold and cough, and "itchy conjunctivitis" with "sticky eyes".
However, Dr Michael Chang, a paediatric infections diseases expert at UTHealth Houston and Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital, told Yagoo News there isn't enough evidence to prove the new Covid variant is causing conjunctivitis. "We don't have the context of whether they're seeing that in some of the regions in India," he said.
"We know their Covid cases are going up, and presumably, these kids are testing positive for Covid, but we don't know if they're testing positive for anything else either." He explained there are other viruses which can cause pink eye - including adenovirus which is common in spring and summer.
"We are seeing adenovirus circulating," he said, "so even if Covid cases go up, unless you're doing testing for both Covid and adenovirus, which most people aren't... it may be difficult [to determine] what's causing your pink eye." Arcturus was seemingly behind a rise in Covid cases in India that led to some mask laws being reintroduced.
In India's southern state of Kerela, Health Minister Veena George reintroduced masks for the elderly, pregnant women, and those with underlying conditions. It was during this surge that XBB.1.16 caught the attention of experts around the world
