What do we know about the Arcturus XBB.1.16 subvariant?

What is XBB.1.16?XBB.1.16 is yet another in the line of omicron subvariants that began with BA.2. It follows on from XBB and XBB.1 and is related to the XBB.1.5 subvariant (“Kraken”) that began to dominate at the start of the year.1 Some have nicknamed this new subvariant “Arcturus” (meaning “Guardian of the Bear” in Greek) to distinguish it from the confusing number of other omicron versions. The X signifies that these subvariants came about through a recombination of two or more sublineages (in this case BA.2.10.1.1 and BA.2.75.3.1.1.1).Francois Balloux, professor of computational systems biology at University College London, says, “XBB.1.16 is very closely related to XBB.1.5, the currently dominant variant in the UK.”2Maria Van Kerkhove, World Health Organization (WHO) covid-19 technical lead, said in a press briefing that it has “one additional mutation in the spike protein, which in lab studies shows increased infectivity, as well as potential increased pathogenicity.”Where…
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