The Covid alert rises due to the spread of the “Arturo” variant (XBB.1.16). The Omicron subvariant has been added to the World Health Organization (WHO) special watch list, following the latest meeting of the Technical Advisory Group on the Evolution of the “Tag-ve” virus, which was held on last April 17. The WHO itself gave the news, in its weekly update on Covid.
The Arturo variant has come under the spotlight for the recent wave of infections that has hit India since the beginning of the year, where 11,692 have been detected in the last 24 hours: «Because of its immune escape characteristics and its estimated growth advantage , Arturo can spread globally and contribute to an increase in the incidence of cases,” WHO explained in a statement. In the coming days, the technicians of the intergovernmental organization will produce a risk assessment document in this regard.
Currently, the Arturo incidence index stands at around 4.2% of the total sequences deposited and has been detected in 31 different countries. Among these there is also Italy, with at least four confirmed cases, the first of which at the Pavia hospital on 13 April.
Symptoms
According to what was stated by the virologist of the State University of Milan, Fabrizio Pregliasco, the new variant would infect children more. Among its most peculiar symptoms, the redness of the eyes and the itching from conjunctivitis. According to the information available to date, therefore, it should not be a more aggressive variant than the previous ones. However, its incidence rate remains to be monitored.
All new variations observed
Together with Arturo, the other variant monitored with particular attention in recent weeks is “Kraken” (XBB.1.5), in the week between March 27 and April 2 it represented 50.8% of the sequences deposited in the world.
In addition to these two special observations, six other variants and their sub-lineages are watched: namely BA.2.75 (Centaurus), CH.1.1 (Orthrus), BQ.1 (the family of Cerberus), XBB (Gryphon), XBB.1.9.1 (Hyperion) and XBF (Bythos).