The Indian physician Vipin Vashishtha from the Mangla Hospital and Research Center in Binjor drew attention to the new variant XBB.1.16 called Arkturus on Twitter on March 17. XBB.1.16 has already been detected in 12 countries, with the highest number of cases in India, the US, Brunei, Singapore and the UK. In India, the number of infections increased by 281 percent within 14 days and mortality by 17 percent. If the omicron sublineage can work its way through the “robust” immunity of the Indian population, the world should be seriously concerned, the pediatrician said in another tweet.
