The new Arcturus variant of Covid-19 is the subject of a WHO warning. Its spread is rapid and leads to the emergence of a hitherto totally unknown symptom, especially in children particularly targeted.
XBB.1.16… No, it is not the name of an update to be performed on your smartphone or computer, but that of the new variant of Covid-19 which worries the World Health Organization (WHO) which produced a warning bulletin. This new variant, also called Arcturus, has been spreading very rapidly in recent weeks in several regions of the globe. Already on March 22, 2023, the WHO placed it “under surveillance” alerted to this variant.
This is obviously a sub-line of the now well-known Omicron variant but with several mutations making it more transmissible but also more resistant to the various vaccines on the market. If it worries, it is by its spread in India in particular but also because of the particular symptoms caused, including one completely new since the appearance of Covid-19 at the end of 2019 in China.
The variant circulates in particular in India where specialists have relayed their observations. This is the case of Dr. Vipin Vashishsta who reports an increase in cases in children under 12 with three particular symptoms. The first two are rather common in Covid-19 patients since the emergence of the pandemic: high fever and cough, but the third is completely new since it is conjunctivitis.
On his Twitter account, this specialist, member of a committee on vaccines at the WHO, details this new symptom and evokes an “itchy” conjunctivitis, causing a red eye, without discharge of pus but causing discomfort with “sticky” eyes. The XBB.1.16 variant, or Arcturus, circulates particularly in India but also in 22 other countries since cases have been identified in Singapore, the United States or the United Kingdom. France is not completely spared but only 10 cases have been officially recorded according to Covid Data Tracker.
