#Arcturus For the last 2 days, have started getting pediatric Covid cases once again after a gap of 6 mo! An infantile phenotype seems emerging—treated infants w/ high fever, cold & cough, & non-purulent, itchy conjunctivitis w/ sticky eyes, not seen in earlier waves pic.twitter.com/UTVgrCCLWU The expert had earlier warned about XBB.1.16 saying that the variant has a 140% growth advantage over XBB.1.5, making it more aggressive.
Last week, WHO official Maria Van Kerkhove pointed out, the subvariant has been circulating for a few months, and it doesn’t appear to cause more severe disease.
However, “One of the things we are very concerned about is the potential for the virus to change to become not only more transmissible but more severe," Van Kerkhove said. “So we have to remain vigilant." Meanwhile, Union Health Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday chaired a review meeting with health ministers of all states and Union Territories through video conferencing.
As many 6,050 fresh Covid-19 infections were recorded in the country in the last 24 hours, marking a significant jump from Thursday's tally of 5,335 cases, the Union health ministry said.