The first death with the new strain of Covid-19 has been recorded.
An elderly man reportedly died with the Arcturus variant in Thailand, according to the country’s director-general of the medical sciences department, Dr Supakit Sirilak.
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He confirmed 27 new cases of XBB.1.16 – which has been dubbed ‘Arcturus’ – were detected in the Southeast Asian nation as of April 17, and one of those was fatal, reports Thai PBS.
Dr Sirilak said: ‘The deceased was an elderly foreigner with underlying health conditions.
‘His death, therefore, may not directly reflect the severity of this subvariant but rather its impact on other risk factors.’
Thai health authorities have raised the alarm and urged the public to take precaution, but said there is ‘no need to panic’.
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Cases of the Arcturus variant first started spreading rapidly in India last week and has caused concern over the speed at which it’s being transmitted.
Health officials in India have reintroduced mandatory mask-wearing among other measures after more than 65,000 active cases were recorded as of today.
There have also been some suggestions it could be the most contagious variant of coronavirus yet, sparking fears it could eventually cause another wave in the UK.
Arcturus, which is a subvariant of Omicron, has been on the World Health Organisation’s watchlist since the end of March.
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The most recent data suggests Arcturus has been detected in at least 20 countries worldwide including the UK, US and Australia.
Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s Covid technical lead, said last month: ‘It’s been in circulation for a few months.
‘We haven’t seen a change in severity in individuals or in populations, but that’s why we have these systems in place.
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‘It has one additional mutation in the spike protein which in lab studies shows increased infectivity as well as potential increased pathogenicity.’
