Talk about Arcturus variant reaches Cyprus

So far we do not know whether the new COVID variant Arcturus has reached Cyprus, Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Virology at the School of Medicine of the University of Nicosia, Dr. Petros Karayiannis told the Cyprus News Agency.

He said that only recently the scientific community learned about this new variant and therefore it is unlikely to have reached the island. He said however that it was first detected in India and now spread in 22 countries, including the UK and at some point it will be introduced to Cyprus because of travelling.

Dr Karayiannis said that the new variant will only be identified through the identification process carried out by the Health Ministry. He said that Arcturus is a sub-variant of the Omicron mutation and seems to be more contagious but so far the hospitalizations in India have not increased, although the number of cases has skyrocketed.

Asked about the overall epidemiological picture in Cyprus, Dr. Karayiannis said that the situation does not inspire any concern. He said that we are back to normal and expressed the opinion that the current variant will not overturn this picture.