Arcturus is already in the UK: warning of a new Covid variant causing carnage in India – and it may have been a month in the UK

A new Covid variant wreaking havoc in India is already in the UK, MailOnline can reveal.

Health chiefs announced last month that “Arcturus” had been spotted in the country. Almost 50 cases have now been reported.

WowHospitals in India are now on alert and mandatory face masks are being reinstated in some states in an effort to stem explosive infection rates, which have risen 13-fold in the past month.

‘Arcturus’ is a spin-off from Omicron and is said to be the most contagious strain yet.

While the surge is a cause for concern, it is still far below the devastating wave of cases the country saw in 2021 from the delta wave

However, top scientists do not expect the variant, scientifically named XBB.1.16, to be more deadly than other Covid strains currently circulating.

Today, the disease caused by the coronavirus is very similar to the flu, unlike in the early days of the pandemic.

The UK Health and Safety Executive said the variant was already in the UK in its latest variant report, published last month.

Separate data collected by variant trackers reports that the UK has now sequenced nearly 50 samples from Arcturus.

Professor Paul Hunter, an infectious disease expert from the University of East Anglia, said it was too early to say whether XBB.1.16 would lead to a significant increase in cases in the UK, but noted that fortunately it would not a more serious illness is not. the cause.

What is Arcturus and should we be concerned?

A new Covid variant called ‘Arcturus’ has caused some concern after a spate of cases in India.

What is Arcturus?

‘Arcturus’ is the name of the Omicron subvariant XBB.1.16.

It is an offshoot strain similar to the Kraken variant (XBB.1.5).

Where was it seen?

It appeared in March and has since been reported in 22 countries, but by far the largest outbreak was in India.

Why was there cause for concern?

“Arcturus” has led to a surge in cases in India, with infections increasing 13-fold in the past month.

That prompted the country’s health authorities to conduct hospital drills in some areas and reinstate mask requirements.

Is it dangerous?

‘Arcturus’ has mutations on its spike protein that the World Health Organization says may increase its ability to infect humans and cause disease.

Japanese researchers have suggested it is 1.2 times more contagious than the already super-transmissible octopus.

However, there is no evidence that it increases the severity of the disease.

However, an increase in cases could put pressure on health services.

Do vaccines still work?

Initial results suggest that “Arcturus” is no better able to evade vaccination than other Omicron accessories

“Although it has risen sharply in India in recent weeks, it is not increasing rapidly worldwide,” he said.

“I suspect we’re going to see a wave of infections with this variant, but I doubt it will cause a big wave, probably not even as big as the one we just had in the UK and so probably not if not. a big boost for health services as of late.’

But he added that a spike in cases in the US in early April, with XBB.1.16 accounting for nearly 6 percent of samples tested, could be a clue to what countries such as the United Kingdom have in store.

Officials in India believe the variant is single-handedly driving the latest wave.

The country’s health ministry conducted mock exercises this week to see how hospitals were prepared for a new potential influx of patients.

And some states brought back face masks in public facilities in some areas for the first time in more than a year.

India’s health ministry said there were 40,215 active cases of Covid on April 12, up 3,122 in just one day.

These Covid cases can be those who test positive while sick at home, as well as those who are in hospital.

Separate figures from the University of Oxford-run platform Our World in Data show there were 3,108 new daily cases on April 4, up from 242 a month earlier.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is currently monitoring Arcturus, scientifically known as XBB.1.16.

It was first discovered in late January and officials said it had some worrisome mutations.

Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s technical lead on Covid, said: “It has been circulating for a number of months.

“We haven’t seen any change in severity in individuals or populations, which is why we put these systems in place.

“It has an additional mutation in the spike protein that shows increased infectivity and possibly increased pathogenicity in laboratory studies.”

DR Van Kerkhove added that while XBB.1.16 was discovered in other countries, most of the sequences came from India, where it replaced other variants.

She also said that no change in disease severity has been reported so far in XBB.1.16 infections.

Meanwhile, a study by Japanese scientists found that Arcturus is 1.2 times more contagious than the closely related Kraken Covid strain.

They uploaded their findings to the biological research website bioRxiv and wrote that this advantage suggests that the new variant “will spread worldwide in the near future.”

They attributed this to mutations that can make it harder for the immune system to target and increase the growth rate.

However, they said there was no evidence that Arcturus was better at evading vaccines or previous measures against infection than octopuses.

Squats were the dominant strain in the UK at the end of February, causing 50.4 per cent of cases, according to ONS data.

Technically, Omicron spin-off XBB.1.5 was thought to be the most infectious Covid variant to date, raising concerns after a series of cases in several countries.

Although the new strain caused more cases, it did not cause more severe disease than its ancestor Omicron, which was already believed to be a “milder” version of Covid.

The increase in cases caused by Arcturus has prompted the northern Indian state of Haryana to reintroduce masks in public places due to the ‘significant increase’ in Covid cases.

South Kerala Health Minister Veena George on Saturday restored masks for pregnant women, the elderly and those with underlying conditions.

Hospitals across India participated in mock drills on Monday and Tuesday to test their readiness.

Analysts at the Office for National Statistics estimated that almost 1.7 million Britons were carrying the virus every weekday up to March 13. This is an increase of almost 14 percent compared to the previous week

Analysis by the Office for National Statistics calculated how many of each Covid wave infected England’s population. The last, Omicron BA.4/5, was the largest, infecting 46.3 percent of the population. People can appear twice in the data, for example contracting Covid once at the start of the pandemic and then again during the omicron peak

Officials have also urged states to step up testing for the virus.

The exercises and the return of the masks are a stark reminder of how the country was devastated by the delta wave in 2021, with a total of 4.7 million additional deaths, according to WHO estimates.

India’s healthcare system has been overwhelmed by a wave of cases caused by this variant of Covid, with some hospitals even running out of oxygen.

As with similar new Covid variants, online virus trackers chose to name XBB.1.16 “Arcturus”, following a pattern of naming new strains after mythological entities.

Arcturus means “guardian of the bear” and is related to the constellation Ursa Major.

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