A team of health officials has expressed their concern over the new COVID-19 variant known as Arcturus. They have said that it might be connected to conjunctivitis that is also known as pink eye. Despite a constant reduction in the number of COVID cases, it has raised concerns among health officials. However, infectious disease experts claim that it is part of a standard path for such types of viruses. Health officials across the world have issued an alert saying that people who have been infected with the Arcturus variant are at a higher risk of developing conjunctivitis that is a key symptom of Arcturus-triggered COVID infection.
New Covid-19 variant might be more infectious as compared to other strains
A report has suggested that the new variant might be more infectious as compared to other strains that have surfaced recently. Health experts advise that people should continue to follow the standard COVID precautions to prevent infection. They say that the variant might not be potent enough to trigger major outbreaks like earlier stages of the pandemic.
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The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has revealed that the count of COVID cases, hospitalizations, and mortalities has gradually dropped since January 2023.
COVID-19 vaccines seem to be effective against the Arcturus variant
An infectious disease expert named William Schaffner says that the new strain might not be a variant of concern as it does not seem to be more complex than other strains despite being more contagious. He claims that COVID-19 vaccines seem to be effective against the Arcturus variant. However, the new variant seems to be a part of an evolving virus.
An epidemiology professor named Justin Lessler has said that the general population has greater natural immunity against the new variant but it seems that people have accepted a flu-like situation where the pathogen will continue to evolve further and immunity will keep fading away and such a scenario might lead to frequent epidemics. Lessler has suggested that policymakers need to decide how much mortality they are prepared to bear and how much funding they are willing to allocate to avert such deaths.
