There is a new COVID-19 variant which worries Italy. Experts have already christened it Arturo (Arcturus), as the red giant which is the brightest star in the constellation Bootes, the fourth brightest in the sky. It is XBB.1.16, the latest recombinant variant of Omicron.
The spotlight, as reported by SkyTg24, turned on her because the new peak of Covid that is being recorded in India could be attributable to its significant presence detected. Pediatrician Vipin M. Vashishtha, former coordinator of the Indian Academy of Pediatrics and member of the World Health Organization’s Vaccine Safety Net (VSN) initiative, tweets the first case intercepted in China and explains that at the moment the sublineage it was detected in 17 countries, including Canada and Singaporefor a total of 474 isolations.
For the expert the Indian situation must be kept an eye onto understand if this mutant can overcome the immunity of a population that has faced different variants, the Centaurus Kraken. Attention in the country is high after the altitude was exceeded for the first time in 2023 1,100 daily caseseven if the trend of hospitalizations and mortality at the moment would not be worrying according to some local experts.
As for Arthur, the British report explains that “is a lineage with 3 additional mutations of Spike, found both in the UK and internationally”although “the total number of samples” still low. WHO still does not cite XBB.1.16, at least in the last two weekly updates, but signals in general the high weight of Omicron recombinants and the XBB family, as well as a growing share of unassigned sublineages. For Italy therefore, at the moment, no alarm.