Arcturus is the latest Coronavirus variant rampaging the globe, causing rising cases and rising warnings from scientists.
Scientists believe the Arcturus variant could soon be the dominant strain, fearing the sub-variant of Omicron could be more aggressive than previous strains, due to its spike protein mutations.
Arcturus has also been found to cause a rare new symptom in children: conjunctivitis.
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India is currently experiencing a spike in infection rate – recording 11,109 new Covid infections this week – which scientists think is due to the Arcturus variant.
The Covid strain has now been found in 22 countries, but with less than 100 confirmed cases in the UK it may not be time to panic just yet.
Speaking to The Independent, Virologist Professor Lawrence Young from the University of Warwick explained Arcturus is a sign that “we’re not yet out of the woods”.
“We have to keep an eye on it,” Young commented.
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“When a new variant arises you have to find out if it’s more infectious, more disease-causing, is it more pathogenic?
“These kinds of things highlight the importance of genomic surveillance, but a lot of countries, including our own, have let our guard down a bit…"
Young ended with realistic advice: "…we can’t be sure what variants are around and what level of infection they’re causing until we see a significant outbreak.”
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Countries letting their "guard down" makes reference to data analysed by The Independent, showing testing, vaccination and tracing capabilities have been scaled down significantly.
This means that many would be unprepared if another deadly Covid strain were to hit, and another lockdown may be on the cards.
According to Oxford University's Our World in Date project, in Europe, testing fell from 613 daily tests per 1,000 people at the start of 2022, to negligible levels by July.
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Although more than five billion people around the world have received a Covid vaccination, it has been reported that the jabs' effectiveness against infection drops significantly in just a few months.
Booster shot schemes allow targeted groups, such as older people and those immunocompromised, to stay protected against infection.
Yet, 30% of the world’s population (largely in the global South) remain unvaccinated against Covid.
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Contact tracing has also significantly reduced, making it impossible to effectively monitor the spread of new outbreaks.
The UK Government shut down 'Test and Trace' – its own Covid surveillance programme – in early 2022, despite protests from experts.
The public can but hope the Arcturus variant will follow the path of other recent strains, and not evolve into another deadly spread.
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