“It was identified by the team of Fausto Baldanti, director of the Microbiology and Virology Unit of the IRCCS San Matteo in Paviathe Covid variant XBB.1.16 called ‘Arturo‘”. This was communicated by the Councilor for Welfare of the Lombardy Region, Guido Bertolaso, who adds: “At the moment there are no news of other identifications of ‘Arturo’ in Italy. We promptly notified the Ministry of Health and our laboratories are in continuous contact with the Higher Institute of Health, with which they collaborate on national surveillance”.
The Arturo variant, explains Baldanti in a note, “was identified through active screening at the hospital which includes both hospitalized patients and patients who access the emergency room”. As for the qualities of the new mutant of Sars-CoV-2, the expert adds: “The European Center for Infectious Disease Control ECDC has not yet associated the variant with characteristics of greater impact on either severity or on the ability to infect. We are currently carefully evaluating the situation”.
“For this new variant – Bertolaso intervenes – there is no evidence to provide for additional measures: it is always important as prevention, not only for Covid, but for all respiratory viruses, correct hand hygiene and the use of masks in the presence of frail/sick people and when you have flu symptoms”.
“I congratulate Professor Baldanti and his team for the important surveillance activity – concludes Bertolaso - Congratulations to all the Lombard laboratory scientists who continue the careful analysis work”.