Five Britons have already died from Arcturus – the new Covid strain wreaking havoc across India.
The variant, believed to be the most contagious to date, is causing carnage in India, with cases exploding 90 times since it first took off two months ago.
Some of the hardest-hit states have already introduced mandatory face masks to curb its rapid spread.
Chiefs of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) have already discovered 135 cases of the Omicron spin-off, which first reached Britain in mid-February.
Only one region, the Northeast, has yet to see it.
Other Omicron sub-variants include Kraken (XBB.1.5) and Orthrus (CH.1.1). Currently, Kraken remains the dominant strain in the UK, as of April 14, causing 44 percent of cases, while Omicron accounts for 8 percent and Arcturus for 2.3 percent, the UKHSA said.
India now accounts for 61 percent of all recorded cases of XBB.1.16, UKHSA officials warned. The dominant variant in the country, between March 20 and April 3, was the Arcturus strain in more than two-thirds (68 percent) of all recorded cases. Separate figures from the Oxford University-run platform Our World in Data show there were 9,526 new daily cases six days ago on April 18, up from 625 a month earlier
While the rapid rise in Covid cases is of some concern, it is still well below the devastating wave the country experienced in 2021 from the Delta variant
Five deaths have been reported in the cases.
But the number of cases – based on genomic surveillance – will be vastly underestimated because only a fraction of samples are now thoroughly tested.
Surveillance data shows that the strain, scientifically named XBB.1.16, accounts for about 2.3 percent of all new cases.
Separate unofficial figures suggest around 65,000 Britons become infected each day.
UKHSA officials stated that Arcturus, nicknamed by variant trackers online, was one of the UK’s ‘most competitive’ Covid strains.
Government health officials expect one of the tribes to become dominant in the coming weeks, they said.
“However, the number of XBB.1.16 samples is very low and the results may change as more data becomes available,” they noted.
Leading experts insist there is no evidence the species is more serious than others circulating.
Today, the disease caused by the coronavirus is very similar to that of the flu, unlike in the early days of the pandemic.
But XBB.1.16 does have three extra mutations on its spike protein that allow it to evade the body’s natural defenses.
But the UKHSA said it “is unclear” whether the variant will spark a new wave in the UK, which has much different levels of immunity than India.
India is now recording nearly 10,000 Covid cases every day.
This is more than the 160 at the end of February, when the variant started to gain momentum.
Data suggests that it accounts for two-thirds of all cases in the country.
Front-line doctors in India claim they have seen an increase in infected children with conjunctivitis, suggesting that Arcturus may be causing different symptoms than other variants.
The strain was first identified in January and is being monitored by the World Health Organization (WHO) since the end of March.
It has now been seen in 34 countries, including the US, Singapore, Australia and Canada.
Other Omicron sub-variants include Kraken (XBB.1.5) and Orthrus (CH.1.1).
Currently, Kraken remains dominant in the UK, causing 44 percent of all cases, while Omicron accounts for 8 percent.
Typical symptoms of Covid include high fever, cough, cold and loss of taste or smell. But Vipin Vashishtha, a pediatrician consultant at Mangla Hospital and Research Center and a former civil servant at the Indian Academy of Paediatrics, revealed earlier this month that the symptoms affecting children’s eyes have suddenly increased. He said he is now seeing a rise in cases of ‘itchy’ conjunctivitis or ‘sticky eyes’, a symptom he had not seen during previous Covid waves
A separate Covid monitoring project, led by health tech company ZOE, has also found that Covid numbers have fallen since the end of March
It predicts around 1.05 million people in the UK will have symptomatic Covid as of yesterday, nearly 400,000 fewer than the 1.49 million reported at the end of March. Current levels are in line with those detected in early February, when cases fell from the winter peak of about 1.7 million, according to data from ZOE. Some 65,360 cases were also registered yesterday
Despite fears that the number of cases could rise quickly, rates appear to have fallen over the past two weeks.
Health tech company ZOE, which has continued its daily Covid surveillance project in opposition to the government, forecasts about 1.05 million people in the UK were sick with Covid as of yesterday.
This is almost 400,000 fewer than the 1.49 million at the end of March.
This is less than half the levels during peak winter crowds.
Professor Robert Dingwall, who advised the government on the virus during the pandemic, also told MailOnline today: ‘We should stop jumping on every new strain of Covid that comes along unless there is solid evidence that we have poor resistance to it.’
He added: ‘We have to treat Covid like any other flu-like illness. The flu virus also changes quite regularly, but it’s not front-page news.
“Public health authorities are monitoring the changes so vaccines can be adapted. Covid now requires no other response’
Officials are no longer tracking the prevalence of the virus in the same way they used to, as part of the government ushering in pre-pandemic normalities.
Variation tracking capabilities have also been scaled back.
Like similar new Covid variants, virus trackers online decided to name XBB.1.16 ‘Arcturus’ following a pattern of naming new strains after mythological entities.
Arcturus means ‘Guardian of the Bear’ and is related to the constellation Ursa Major.