Experts are closely monitoring a new strain of the Covid virus which could be the fastest spreading yet, amid fears it will rapidly take hold in the UK. The strain has rapidly spread across India where mask-wearing has been reintroduced in some areas in a bid to slow it down.
Arcturus has the usual Covid symptoms of fever and coughs while a number of people have also reported itchy eyes and conjunctivitis. The World Health Organisation and the UK Health Security Agency are both closely watching the virus, first detected in January.
Arcturus, a subvariant of Omicron, has been found in 22 countries so far, including the UK, USA, Australia and Singapore and has been found to be more infectious than previous strains - allowing it to spread more rapidly.
The news comes just ahead of the launch of a new booster vaccine rollout.
Dr Connor Bamford, from the Wellcome-Wolfson Institute for Experimental Medicine at Queen's University Belfast, spoke to BelfastLive about the new variant.
What is the Arcturus variant?
Arcturus is a name that some people have given to the last variant of SARS-CoV-2 (that causes COVID19). The scientific name is XBB.1.16 and it is a mix of two Omicron variants that were previously circulating.
XBB1.16 is closely related to XBB1.5, which is the currently dominating variant and was responsible for our last wave a month or so ago. XBB1.16 is currently driving a wave in other countries like India.
What are its symptoms?
Likely mostly similar to before with most people exhibiting mild cold-like symptoms but with the capacity to cause severe lung infection in vulnerable people. There is also the very real risk of Long Covid. For XBB.1.16, some have noted conjunctivitis (sticky, crusty eyes) in kids.
What is the Covid-19 situation?
As we predicted, Covid-19 is here to stay and has been continuously infecting people since early 2020. Recently we see waves of cases, hospitalisations and deaths associated with new variants every three months or so.
Between waves, Covid-19 does not go away however. It is unlikely but not impossible that we’ll see very large waves like we saw with Alpha or Omicron at Christmas 2020 and 2021.
Should current immunity levels help to minimise the impact of this new variant?
I believe that the current levels of immunity built up from vaccination and infection will help against each new variant even if more infectious, but the vulnerable may need more help (vaccines).
Will the Spring boosters currently being rolled out prove effective?
Current booster vaccines should be helpful against this variant as will previous recent infection. As Covid-19 is not going away, vaccination (including boosters) offers the best protection from infection and disease, especially if vulnerable (such as the elderly).
Is it a case of concern rather than alarm?
This should be a slight concern but what I feel more concerning is that even between waves Covid-19 does not go away and I feel we do not have a strong enough plan in place to safeguard the population across the year.
We need more investment in surveillance of the virus, next-generation vaccines, and better treatments for the vulnerable in the community and in hospital.
