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New Symptoms Of COVID: As India is again witnessing a rapid surge in COVID cases, experts have warned of some new symptoms which are affecting the children. The new variant XBB.1.16, which is also known as Arcturus has also added some new illnesses which were not seen in the early waves. Some of the top symptoms include high fever, cold and cough, and non-purulent, cited Vipin M Vashishtha, former convenor of the Indian Academy of Pediatrics and consultant paediatrician at the Mangla Hospital and Research Centre, Bijnor.
XBB.1.16 #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
— Vipin M. Vashishtha (@vipintukur) April 6, 2023
Vashishtha also said that reports of itchy eyes conjunctivitis and sticky eyes have seen a sudden surge which was not seen earlier. 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.
WHO official Maria Van Kerkhove pointed out that the subvariant which is currently circulating is not severe, however, there is a possibility that the virus may change and become more severe. “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.”
Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday chaired a review meeting with health ministers of all states and union territories via video conferencing. At the meeting, Mandaviya reviewed the preparation across the states ahead of the two-day nationwide COVID mock drills on April 10 and April 11.
On Wednesday, the COVID Empowerment Working Group also conducted a review meeting featuring Dr Rajiv Bahl, DG, ICMR and other senior health officials.
The objective of the review meeting was to take stock of the prevailing COVID situation in the country and assess the preparedness of healthcare facilities to deal with the spike in cases.
India recorded 6,050 new cases in 24 hours while the active case tally stood at 28,303 on Friday. The COVID-19 cases in India have seen an upward trend in the past few days with the daily fresh infections ranging between 2,994 on April 1 to 3,824 on April 2 and 3,641 on April 3 and 3038 on April 4 and 4,435 on April 5.
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