New Subvariant Arcturus of COVID-19 Spreads Rapidly Across Half of USA and India

A little over three years after the pandemic of Covid in the world, the subvariante XBB.1.16also called Arcturuscovers half of the territory of USAalthough with a greater presence in California, New Jersey and Virginia.

The cepa also predominates in India and caused a increase in cases that keeps hospitals on red alert, after the authorities warned of their rapid spread and that even infects those who have a scheme full of vaccination.

You can also read: What are the symptoms and dangers of the new subvariant of Covid XBB.1.5?

At the end of March, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that it was already monitoring the variant XBB.1.16 for showing an increase in infection rates and pathogenicity, changes classified as “potential that require attention”

“It’s very similar to XBB.1.5. It has an additional mutation in the spike protein which, in laboratory studies, shows an increase in infectivity,” he explained. Mary Van Kerkhoveepidemiologist and technical leader of COVID-19 in the OMS.

Since when has Arcturus circulated in the United States?

By the end of January, health reports detected the variant Arcturus in New York and, to date, is in more than 26 states with 235 cases, only 54 in California, followed by New Jersey (38 cases), Virginia (25), Texas (23) and New York (21), according to a count of Daily Mail.

It was also detected in the states of Washington, IllinoisFlorida, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Utah, Ohio, Minnesota, Maryland, North CarolinaNevada, Iowa, Indiana, Hawaii, Delaware, Connecticut, Wisconsin, Oregon, MichiganMassachusetts, Louisiana and Colorado.

However, the number of actual positive cases is believed to be imprecise, due to the fact that in USA decreased the number of people performing Covid tests.

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The variant XBB.1.16 is considered the version Omicron’s most infectiousalthough there is no evidence that it is deadlier than other strains that still remain.

The OMS reported in late March that Arcturus already circulated in 22 countries, with greater presence in Indiaalthough the Daily Mail report places the Omicron strain in 28 nationsincluding the UK, Singapore, Australia and Canada.