According to comprehensive media reports on the 16th, the Ministry of Health of India stated this morning (16th) that there were 10,093 new cases of infection in the past 24 hours, with a positive rate of 5.61%. Among them, 19 people died, including 5 cases in Delhi.
This is the fourth consecutive day that India has had more than 10,000 new cases. At present, there are 57,542 positive cases of Arcturus in India. Indian Ministry of Health officials predicted that the number of confirmed cases may increase in the next 10 to 12 days before starting to slow down.
In response to the continued escalation of the epidemic, health departments in many provinces in India have held emergency meetings to discuss response methods and coordinate medical resources. However, experts said that the new epidemic did not impact medical resources and urged the public not to panic.
Epidemiology experts pointed out that Arcturus, which caused the current outbreak in India, is a mutant strain of XBB 1.16, and its infectious power is about 1.2 times that of Omicron. The symptoms are similar to those of other mutant strains in the past except for fever, cough, and diarrhea. The difference is that it may also cause conjunctivitis.
The CCP virus variant Omicron subtype variant XBB.1.16, which was first detected in January this year, is a recombinant of two offspring of another Omicron variant BA.2, similar to the earlier XBB.1.5 , but with an additional mutation in the spike protein. Fortunately, the severe disease rate of Arcturus is not high.
Currently, Arcturus has appeared in more than 20 countries, including Singapore, India, Nepal, the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom. In addition to India, Nepal has also seen a surge in new cases in recent weeks.
Because of the CCP’s concealment of the epidemic, there are currently no reports of relevant data from China. But on the 12th of this month, when Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the Guangzhou Automobile Research Institute, it was found that everyone in the audience was wearing masks, including Xi Jinping himself. Xi Jinping was several meters away from the crowd, and Xi Jinping did not take off his mask when speaking, which is extremely rare recently.
A study by the University of Tokyo in Japan showed that Arcturus is 1.17 to 1.27 times more transmissible than the XBB.1 and XBB.1.5 strains, and has the potential to spread worldwide in the near future.
