JAKARTA, April 18 — Indonesia has reported five new cases of the new Covid-19 Arcturus subvariant, bringing the total number of cases to seven as of yesterday.
“Two of the cases are from Surabaya and three cases are in Jakarta,” the Health Ministry’s spokesperson Mohammad Syahril said, adding that all the patients experienced mild symptoms and have recovered.
The symptoms of the variant include cough, flu, fever and sore throat, but several countries have reported ‘itchy’ conjunctivitis or pinkeye, he added.
Two cases of the new Covid-19 strain, also known as XBB.1.16, was first detected in Indonesia early this month based on genome sequencing conducted in the fourth week of March.
Currently, the ministry is studying whether XBB.1.16 is behind a fresh surge of Covid-19 infections in the country, which recorded 725 new confirmed cases yesterday versus 494 cases last Monday.
On March 22, the World Health Organisation (WHO) classified Arcturus, which is officially titled XBB.1.16, as a new variant under monitoring.
— Bernama
