The World Health Organization (WHO) is looking at a new Covid variant that appears to cause a new symptom in children that is not caused by other Omicron subvariants.
XBB.1.16, also known as Arcturus, is fueling a new surge in many countries, including the United States, Singapore, and Australia, among others.
Variant under monitoring
The WHO designated XBB.1.16 as a "variant under monitoring" in late March, claiming that it is the most transmissible variant yet.
According to Maria Van Kerkhove, Covid technical lead for the WHO, the XBB.1.16 variant is considered "one to watch" by the world health body.
Conjunctivitis
According to Dr Vipin Vashishtha, a paediatrician and former chair of the Indian Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Immunization, the variant's symptoms include high fever, cough, and "itchy" conjunctivitis or pinkeye.
He added that he had never seen anything like this in previous COVID-19 waves.
According to Richard Reithinger, an infectious disease epidemiologist at RTI International, it is "probably too early to tell" if the virus's symptom set has truly changed. He mentioned that conjunctivitis has previously been reported as a Covid symptom.
XBB.1.16 is a recombinant of two BA.2 subvariants. According to a preprint study from the University of Tokyo, the variant spreads about 1.17 to 1.27 times more efficiently than relatives XBB.1 and XBB.1.5, which is why it "will spread worldwide in the near future" and appears "robustly resistant" to antibodies from other Covid variants.
