News on Covid variant Arcturus: Cases rise again in India as doctors warn of ‘new symptom’ [Beuzz]

Strain XBB.1.16, a sub-variant of Omicron, has been found in 22 countries, including Singapore, Australia, UK and USA.

The variant, dubbed Arcturus, is believed to be responsible for an increase in infections in India, leading the government to adopt new measures to stop its spread.

The spread of the strain, first detected in late January, worries experts, as it appears to have unique symptoms in children, including conjunctivitis.

Vipin Vashishtha, a pediatrician and former head of the Indian Academy of Paediatrics immunization committee, tweeted that an “infantile phenotype” of the variant appears to be emerging.

Symptoms of the variant include high fever, cough and “itchy” conjunctivitis or pink eye, she said.

India is ramping up vaccine production following a rapid rise in Covid-19 cases driven by a new sub-variant dubbed Arcturus.

The Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine producer, has restarted manufacturing of Covid-19 vaccines, chief executive Adar Poonawalla has said.

The Pune-based company produces AstraZeneca vaccines under the Covishield label, which constitutes at least 70% of the Covid vaccines administered in the country.

“As a precautionary measure, we have done this so that people have a choice of Covishield if they want to,” Mr Poonawalla told the Press Trust of India.

A new strain of Covid dubbed Arcturus, which is driving a wave of infections in India, has been detected in the UK.

Although Arcturus has been detected in the UK, it is not spreading on the same scale – with the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) saying 66 cases have been recorded up to April 11.

By comparison, 57,842 total Covid infections were recorded in the week to Thursday, down 20% from the previous seven days.

Covid-19 has dropped the top five causes of death in England and Wales for the first time since the start of the pandemic, figures show.

Coronavirus was recorded as the leading cause of death for 22,454 people in 2022, or 3.9% of all recorded deaths, making it the sixth leading cause overall.

In 2020 and 2021, Covid-19 was the main cause of death, with 73,766 deaths (12.1% of the total) and 67,350 (11.5%) respectively.

Adar Poonawalla, Managing Director of Serum Institute of India (SII) said The Independent in a statement that the company has “resumed production of the Covid-19 vaccine, Covishield, in response to the growing number of infections with the SARS-CoV-2 virus.”

“The company also has six million doses of the Covovax vaccine, which are readily available to private hospitals based on demand and can also be used as heterologous booster doses,” he added.

“The company has taken this precautionary step to ensure people have the option of Covishield if they choose.”

Professor Paul Hunter, an infectious disease expert based at the University of East Anglia, told MailOnline the variant is unlikely to cause a big wave.

“I suspect we’ll see a wave of infections with this variant,” Professor Hunter said. “I doubt it will cause a big wave, probably not even as big as the one we just had in the UK.”

Professor Lawrence Young, a virologist from the University of Warwick, said The Independent that cases need to be monitored.

“These kinds of things underscore the importance of genomic surveillance, but many countries, including ours, have let their guard down a bit.

“And we can’t be sure about the variants and the level of infection they cause until we see a significant outbreak.”

Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s technical lead on Covid, said “it’s something to watch out for”. She added that health experts have not seen “changes in severity in individuals or in populations.”

India recorded 11,109 new Covid infections on Friday, the biggest increase in cases for nearly a year. The country currently has 49,622 active cases, according to the Federal Ministry of Health.

The southern state of Kerala has reported 3,420 cases, while the capital Delhi and western Maharashtra have recorded 1,159 and 1,115 cases respectively.

There have been 29 Covid-related deaths recorded in 24 hours.

Virologist Dr Stephen Griffin from the University of Leeds said Arcturus is growing at a faster rate than other variants and is “quickly suppressing” others in India.

He added that the new variant, which is now spreading around the world, is of particular concern due to limitations in genomic sequencing and tracking, leaving the UK ‘completely in the dark’ after it stopped publishing case figures ONS Covid last month.

So far in the UK, Arcturus accounts for just 0.4% of cases, according to the GISAID virus sequencing database – but that proportion is set to rise significantly.

“Arcturus has about a 1.2 growth advantage over what we’ve had recently,” Dr. Griffin said. The Independent.

“It’s conceivable that it could top what we’ve had recently, but there are other variants in the mix, so it’s hard to know which one will become dominant.”

The new strain of Covid, Arcturus, is already causing a surge of cases in India, and is thought to be 1.2 times more contagious than the latest Omicron sub-variant.

It has been detected in 22 countries so far, including the UK and US, with India reporting 49,622 active Covid cases on April 14, prompting the return of strict measures.