Due to strong growth: Corona variant Arcturus reaches the next level

Arcturus has made a name for itself, especially in India. There, the omicron variant XBB.1.16 caused a corona wave for the first time in six months. Everything was played at a low level overall. Nevertheless, experts such as expert Vipin Vashishta, pediatrician as well as researchers at Mangla Hospital and Research Center in Bijnor, India, and a member of the WHO Vaccine Group, Arcturus and its impact intensively. According to him, Arcturus is now in 42 countries.

Due to its growth advantage, XBB.1.16 also proliferated very well in Singapore, Australia and the USA. Great Britain also reported rising case numbers. The fact that Arcturus spreads even faster than its predecessors has given the omicron type its own clade, i.e. an evolutionary branch. In the official lines of the “PangoNetwork” XBB.1.16 and its descendants are now called 23B (Omicron) – analogous to 23A (Omicron), behind which the octopus XBB.1.5 is hidden.

Arcturus numbers in the UK have tripled

Within a couple of weeks in April, Arcturus tripled its share in the UK through its distribution advantage. There, too, the infection rate is still at a low level in absolute numbers. But UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) officials say Arcturus is among the “most competitive” Covid strains in the UK. They expect one of the strains to become dominant in the coming weeks.

At the same time, they qualified: “However, the sample numbers for XBB.1.16 are very small and the results may change as more data becomes available.” In latest report Arcturus accounts for 2.3 percent of the samples analyzed.

What does that mean for Germany? The past has often shown that Great Britain offered a kind of preview for Germany. Because many developments during the pandemic also arrived in this country after a few weeks. This was often simply due to better data collection on the other side of the channel.

So far, very few XBB.1.16 sequences (n=24, week 5-14/2023) have been transmitted in Germany, as the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) im current weekly report lists.

As far as the overview of the corona variant events is concerned, hardly anything is likely to improve here in the future. The RKI writes: Even after the end of the documentation of the variant, surveillance of the Sars-CoV-2 variants circulating in Germany will be guaranteed in Germany.

But the data basis for this remains manageable. It says: “As part of the established Sars-CoV-2 surveillance, genome sequencing of around 100 Sars-CoV-2-positive samples per week will continue to be carried out at the RKI.”

Arcturus is variant of interest

In addition classified the World Health Organization (WHO) Arcturus as a Variant of Interest (VOI) a while ago due to the sustained growth advantage reported by several countries.

Small chronology:

• XBB.1.16 was first reported on January 9, 2023 and
• on March 22, 2023 as a variant under monitoring (VUM).
• On April 17, 2023, XBB.1.16 was designated a variant of interest (VOI).

This is how the WHO characterizes the omicron variant: XBB.1.16 is a descendant of XBB, a recombination of two BA.2 progeny. XBB.1.16 has a similar genetic profile to VOI XBB.1.5, with additional amino acid mutations E180V and K478R in the spike protein compared to its parent XBB.1.

No evidence that Arcturus makes you more ill than the previous variant

Even if the corona virus mutates continuously, the danger does not change at the same time. The WHO writes: “The global risk assessment for XBB.1.16 is low compared to XBB.1.5 and the other variants currently in circulation, at this point in time and with available evidence.” Although growth advantages and immune escape properties are in different countries and against different immune backgrounds, but no changes in severity were reported. A slight increase in bed occupancy was recorded in India and Indonesia. However, the levels are much lower than previous variant waves.

Even experts in this country do not expect an increased burden of disease from XBB.1.16. “I don’t think that Arcturus will lead to many severe courses again,” said Ulf Dittmer, Director of the Institute for Virology at the University Hospital in Essen, when asked by FOCUS online.

Especially people who have been vaccinated first and are then mildly/moderately ill have a very broad immunity – through antibodies as well as through T-cells. That applies to a lot of people in Europe. “This protects them very well against serious illness and no conceivable variant can completely avoid it.”