• A new variant of Omicron emerged in January in India and is spreading around the world, although it is still marginal in Europe.
  • Placed under surveillance by the World Health Organization (WHO), it seems very transmissible without involving dangerous factors.
  • Virologist Bruno Lina believes that we will have to live with Covid-19, which will circulate permanently "quietly", unlike influenza or bronchiolitis, with peaks expected in winter.

Even if it is much less talked about, Covid 19 is still here. The latest variant XBB.1.16, named Arcturus, named after the brightest star in the constellation Bouvier, was detected in January in India. "It represents 4 to 5% of cases in North America and it is marginal in Europe," reports Lyon virologist Bruno Lina, a member of Covars (committee for monitoring and anticipating health risks). However, we are not done with this coronavirus yet.

A variant under surveillance

More transmissible, Arcturus does not present dangerous factors, "there will be no epidemic wave," says the professor. According to this specialist, we only ensure that there is the "game of musical chairs" of variants. In India, immunization coverage is not the same as in Europe. "There have been fewer recalls and they have very often been carried out with the initial strain and not BA4 or BA5," says the expert. This helps explain why more cases are identified there, but it is not a massive epidemic phenomenon that causes many hospitalizations, as during the Delta wave.

After the Alpha, Delta, Omicron waves and its variants BA1 and BA2, there is no longer a variant considered worrying. The World Health Organization (WHO) simply classified Arcturus under surveillance. "Omicron variants are installed with less nasty sublineages," says Marie-Line Andreola, CNRS research director in biochemistry and virology in Bordeaux.

Symptoms in people infected with the new Arcturus variant include fever, cough, fatigue and, for young patients, conjunctivitis. "This symptom was only found in 16 patients out of thousands infected," relativizes Professor Bruno Lina, for whom these data are not robust enough. "Some children may have conjunctivitis but it is not systematic," he clarifies. "There has been no peer review on this point," abounds Marie-Line Andreola.

If we often compare Covid-19 with seasonal flu to evoke the fact that we will have to live with it, Professor Bruno Lina believes that "Covid will have the epidemiology of Covid". According to what is known about him at this time, he believes that "it will circulate quietly a little permanently", which is not the case with the flu virus or bronchiolitis. "The epidemic recovery will most likely take place in the fall or winter, depending on the other viruses," he adds.

What is certain is that a booster vaccination for fragile people, every six months, is recommended. A vaccination campaign is currently underway in this direction. We know that the vaccines available are effective against this new variant even if the duration of protection is a little shorter than for the previous ones.

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