The new Covid Arcturus variant could be more transmissible than previous strains due to one "advantage", authorities claim.
The subvariant was first detected in India, prompting the return of mask laws within the county. Since then, it has spread across the globe, with five Brits having died from the disease, and five Scottish cases confirmed as of Tuesday.
Officially known as Omicron XBB.1.16, Arcturus is also on the rise in Australia, as the World Health Organisation (WHO) continues to monitor global cases.
Previous subvariants of Coronavirus led to increases of infection as the virus mutates to resist treatments. UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) chiefs warn "early evidence" suggests that Arcturus has "advantages" to help it spread faster - due to extra mutations.
Experts stressed that the examined sample size was still too small for any definite conclusions, reports the Mirror.
XBB.1.16 has emerged from two previous potent strains of Omicron, BA.1 and BA.2 which posed serious issues for the UK. This has resulted in the subvariant gaining three extra spiked mutation protein, that makes it more infectious than previous strains.
Scientists flagged the Arcturus "advantage" early on, with UKHSA first monitoring it on March 6. The identification of these spikes precluded a sharp increase in Arcturus cases globally - particularly in India - which accounts for over half of the strain’s cases globally.
As things stand, there are 135 Arcturus sequences in the UK, believed to be around 104 cases as some people have been sequenced twice. The median age for these cases was 74, continuing the trend of older Brits being more at risk, with 54 men and 50 women having caught it.
Across the UK, the strain is present in every country and region apart from the North East, being most prevalent in London, the North West and South East.
But the majority of the infections in the North West all came about in mid to late March, on the same day, suggesting it had spread at a large event.
The East of England recorded the country’s first Arcturus case and most recently it has been recorded in the North West once more, and London, according to the most recently available data.
From April 3 to April 9, Arcturus made up 2.3 per cent of the UK’s sequences and it is, along with XBB.1.9.2, seemingly the most competitive subvariant.
Globally, the strain is thought to be in 34 countries and dominant in India, Brunei, and Singapore. But recent data from Our World in Data suggests that India’s Arcturus spike may have peaked and levelled out, and now be on the way down.
As things stand, there’s no evidence that Arcturus is more severe, or better at evading vaccines.
This is all encouraging news to scientists worldwide monitoring XBB.1.16 as the fear with Covid has long been a repeat of Omicron that is more severe and transmissible, and dodges vaccines.
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