A surge of infections in India have been linked to a new variant of Covid-19 called 'Arcturus.' The Omicron sub-variant XBB.1.16 strain is causing cases in the country to soar, with the health ministry in India launching mock drills to see if hospitals are prepared to deal with a possible influx of patients as cases continue to rise.
It has been made compulsory in some states for people to wear face coverings, which in many areas is the first time this has been done in more than a year. In the southern state of Kerela, Health Minister Veena George has reintroduced masks for the elderly, pregnant women, and those with underlying conditions.
This week, case numbers throughout India rose by 3,122 in a single day. On April 12, the country's Ministry of Health recorded 40,215 active coronavirus infections and officials are now urging states to increase testing for the virus reports the Daily Mirror.
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Figures from Our World in Data, run by Oxford University, show how new daily cases reached 3,108 on April 4, which is 242 more than the previous month. The Arcturus strain was first detected in late January and is currently being monitored by the World Health Organization (WHO), with officials noting some mutations of concern.
WHO's Covid technical lead, Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, said: "We haven't seen a change in severity in individuals or in populations but that's why we have these systems in place. It has one additional mutation in the spike protein which in lab studies shows increased infectivity as well as potential increased pathogenicity."
Dr Van Kerkhove explained that whilst Arcturus had been found in other countries, most cases were from India where it had overtaken other variants, but there has been no reported change in the severity of disease among those infected by the variant.
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