--- title: What to Know About New COVID-19 Variant Arcturus description: The Omicron subvariant XBB.1.16 has been circulating throughout India for a few months and is causing a new surge of cases there. canonical: https://time.com/6268467/omicron-subvariant-xbb116-covid-19/ author: Haley Weiss article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-04-04T16:38:42.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-11T20:30:28.000Z article:section: Health og:title: What to Know About New COVID-19 Variant Arcturus og:description: The Omicron subvariant XBB.1.16 has been circulating throughout India for a few months and is causing a new surge of cases there og:url: https://time.com/6268467/omicron-subvariant-xbb116-covid-19/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltce7a0eeaf44d28b4/698a3bad47ca387e193baa6d/GettyImages-1250512708.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 6300 og:image:height: 3544 og:image:alt: Daily Life In Kolkata, India og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: What to Know About New COVID-19 Variant Arcturus twitter:description: The Omicron subvariant XBB.1.16 has been circulating throughout India for a few months and is causing a new surge of cases there twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltce7a0eeaf44d28b4/698a3bad47ca387e193baa6d/GettyImages-1250512708.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 video:duration: 02:04 video:published: 2023-02-28 section: politics topics: COVID-19 origins, U.S. intelligence community, Department of Energy, national labs, pandemic preparedness, intelligence assessments, press reporting, government investigation genre: news, interview tones: measured, evasive, cautious, formal emotions: caution (medium), seriousness (medium), frustration (low) sentiment: neutral audience: general news readers, policy followers, health policy observers, government watchers people: Jackie organizations: U.S. government, U.S. intelligence community, Department of Energy, national labs, Congress content_suitability: death [00:00-00:00]; health controversy [00:00-02:04] transcript_source: automatic transcription transcript_reviewed: not applicable ---  # What to Know About the New XBB.1.16 COVID-19 Variant > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=6de4340b-0e0a-408f-b715-6a41307059b1&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: What We Know About the U.S. Intelligence Community's Split on COVID-19 Origins [Watch (HLS stream): What We Know About the U.S. Intelligence Community's Split on COVID-19 Origins](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/PIMYtj8I.m3u8) (2:04)  _Published 2023-02-28. News that the U.S. Department of Energy made a determination about the origins of COVID-19 has sparked new questions about the U.S. intelligence community’s investigation of the global pandemic that has killed an estimated 6.85 million people._ Description, summary, key points, chapters, key quotes, questions and transcript, where present, were produced automatically from the video or its captions and were not reviewed. ## Summary A government official responds to press reporting on the origins of COVID-19, saying the Biden administration has made finding the virus's origins a priority and that a whole-of-government effort is underway. The official states there is no intelligence community consensus on how COVID started and that work, including by national labs under the Department of Energy, is ongoing. The official declines to get ahead of conclusions, saying the government wants facts before briefing the American people and Congress. ## Key points - The president made finding the origins of COVID a priority when he came into office, with a whole-of-government effort designed to do so. (00:00) - There is not a consensus in the U.S. government about exactly how COVID started, and no intelligence community consensus. (00:00) - The president tasked the national labs, run through the Department of Energy, to study the origins, so the effort was not confined to the intelligence community. (00:28) - The work on COVID origins is still ongoing, and the president believes it is important to continue so the government can better prevent a future pandemic. (00:42) - The goal is to get ahead of a future pandemic, or the signs of one, by understanding how COVID started. (00:48) - The official says there has not been a definitive conclusion and should not have to defend press reporting about a possible preliminary indication. (01:12) - The president wants facts, and the government will brief the American people and Congress when it has something ready to share. (01:26) - The official says there is no consensus across the government and will not get ahead of conclusions that have not been reached yet. (01:56) ## Chapters - [00:00 to 00:28] Presidential priority on COVID origins. The official says the president prioritized finding COVID's origins and launched a whole-of-government effort. - [00:28 to 00:48] National labs and ongoing work. The official notes the Department of Energy's national labs were tasked with the study and that the work continues. - [00:48 to 01:12] Getting ahead of future pandemics. The official explains the aim is to understand how COVID started to better prevent or prepare for future pandemics. - [01:12 to 02:04] No consensus and no premature conclusions. The official declines to defend press reports on preliminary indications and says there is no government consensus yet. ## Key quotes - [00:00] interviewer: "There is not a consensus right now in the U.S. government about exactly how COVID started." - [00:28] interviewer: "it wasn't just an effort that was confined to the intelligence community." - [01:26] interviewer: "What the president wants is facts." - [01:56] interviewer: "I'm not going to get ahead of conclusions that haven't been arrived at yet." ## Questions this video answers - Has the U.S. government reached a consensus on how COVID-19 started? [00:00] - What role did the national labs under the Department of Energy play in the origins investigation? [00:28] - Why does the president want the origins of COVID-19 to be determined? [00:42] - Is there a definitive conclusion about COVID-19's origins yet? [01:07] - When will the government brief the American people and Congress on COVID origins? [01:26] ## Content suitability - death [00:00-00:00]: The video's description references an estimated 6.85 million deaths from the pandemic, though the transcript itself does not discuss deaths. - health controversy [00:00-02:04]: The video discusses unresolved and disputed questions about the origins of a global pandemic and press reports on them.  by [Haley Weiss](https://time.com/author/haley-weiss/)  ## Haley Weiss Updated: Dec 11, 2023 8:30 PM UTCPublished: Apr 4, 2023 4:38 PM UTC  A woman walks past a coronavirus-themed mural on a street amidst the spread of the coronavirus disease in Kolkata, India on Apr. 2 A woman walks past a coronavirus-themed mural on a street amidst the spread of the coronavirus disease in Kolkata, India on Apr. 2 Sudipta Das/NurPhoto—Getty Images  by [Haley Weiss](https://time.com/author/haley-weiss/)  ## Haley Weiss Updated: Dec 11, 2023 8:30 PM UTCPublished: Apr 4, 2023 4:38 PM UTC The World Health Organization (WHO) is monitoring a new COVID-19 subvariant called XBB.1.16, which is now circulating in the U.S. after an initial surge of cases in India. The [_Times of India_](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/coronavirus-in-india-live-updates-april-16/liveblog/99524808.cms) reported on Apr. 17 that there are now more than 60,300 active COVID-19 cases in the country. “In India, XBB.1.16 has replaced the other variants that are in circulation,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s COVID-19 technical lead, during a Mar. 29 [press conference](https://www.who.int/multi-media/details/who-press-conference-on-covid-19-and-other-global-health-issues-29-march-2023). “So this is one to watch.” XBB.1.16—which a group of scientists on Twitter nicknamed “Arcturus”—is one of [more than 600 Omicron subvariants](https://www.who.int/multi-media/details/who-press-conference-on-covid-19-and-other-global-health-issues-29-march-2023) that are currently circulating. It’s similar to the [XBB.1.5 variant](https://time.com/6244167/covid-19-variant-xbb15/) that has dominated the U.S. throughout 2023 but is distinguished by a mutation in the spike protein that “may give it some additional growth advantages,” says Dr. Peter Hotez, co-director of the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development. In lab studies, this additional mutation “shows increased infectivity, as well as potential increased pathogenicity,” Van Kerkhove said. “It has potential changes that we need to keep a good eye out on.” Initially, XBB.1.16 was found primarily in India and Nepal, but it’s now circulating in 29 countries, according to the WHO’s latest [report](https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/weekly-epidemiological-update-on-covid-19---13-april-2023). The variant reached the U.S. in early April, where it’s now responsible for [7.2% of cases nationwide](https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#variant-proportions). As we’ve seen with past variants, things can change quickly, Hotez says. Take XBB.1.5, which accounted for less than a quarter of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. going into late December last year. “Over the ensuing week, XBB.1.5 became the dominant variant,” says Hotez. Now that the newer variant is in the U.S., “the question is whether XBB.1.16 is going to do the same, or whether the two are \[closely related\] enough.” --- ### More from TIME --- **Read More:**[_Why New COVID-19 Variants Have Such Confusing Names_](https://time.com/6229947/how-are-covid-19-variants-named/) Still, a new variant—even one ratcheting up case numbers—is not by itself cause for alarm. “We haven’t seen a change in severity in individuals or in populations,” Van Kerkhove said during the March press conference. Despite the increase in cases, reported hospitalizations and deaths in India have remained low, says Dr. Monica Gandhi, associate division chief at UC San Francisco’s Division of HIV, Infectious Diseases, and Global Medicine, and Indian health officials have responded to the new dominant variant by recommending additional boosters for people over 65 or who are immunocompromised and otherwise vulnerable. Right now, many countries have high population level immunity, so boosting those who are vulnerable at the outset of a wave of cases is a reliable and repeatable strategy, she says. “Any new subvariant of Omicron, it’s not fazing us,” Gandhi says. “It doesn’t change \[the WHO’s\] baseline recommendation, which is to boost older and vulnerable people. There is a possibility that we get really unlucky and we get a worse variant, and then we would boost everyone, but the reason that we know this is not what XBB.1.16 is is that it’s causing the expected rise in cases without a high rise in hospitalizations.” On Apr. 18, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released its latest vaccination guidelines, which cleared Americans ages 65 and older to receive a [second bivalent booster shot](https://time.com/6272670/bivalent-covid-19-booster-seniors/) this spring. It’s been a year since WHO released their [plan](https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/WHO-WHE-SPP-2022.1) for how the world will get out of the emergency phase of the pandemic, which included three possible paths. Even with the emergence and spread of variants like XBB.1.16, Gandhi says that the world is still on the best-case scenario path, in which new variants continue to appear but don’t cause outbreaks with high occurrences of severe disease and hospitalizations. As the virus continues to evolve, Hotez is most concerned about the “dismantlement” of independent tracking efforts that the U.S. has relied on to spot and monitor new variants before they become dominant. “I think we’re letting our guard down,” he says. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6268467/omicron-subvariant-xbb116-covid-19/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6268467/omicron-subvariant-xbb116-covid-19/"},"headline":"What to Know About the New XBB.1.16 COVID-19 Variant","datePublished":"2023-04-04T16:38:42.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-11T20:30:28.000Z","description":"The Omicron subvariant XBB.1.16 has been circulating throughout India for a few months and is causing a new surge of cases there.","url":"https://time.com/6268467/omicron-subvariant-xbb116-covid-19/","keywords":["COVID-19","healthscienceclimate"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltce7a0eeaf44d28b4/698a3bad47ca387e193baa6d/GettyImages-1250512708.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Haley Weiss","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/haley-weiss/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltce7a0eeaf44d28b4/698a3bad47ca387e193baa6d/GettyImages-1250512708.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Daily Life In Kolkata, India","caption":"A woman walks past a coronavirus-themed mural on a street amidst the spread of the coronavirus disease in Kolkata, India on Apr. 2","creditText":"Sudipta Das/NurPhoto—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/covid-19/","name":"COVID-19"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6268467/omicron-subvariant-xbb116-covid-19/","name":"What to Know About the New XBB.1.16 COVID-19 Variant"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"What We Know About the U.S. Intelligence Community's Split on COVID-19 Origins","description":"News that the U.S. Department of Energy made a determination about the origins of COVID-19 has sparked new questions about the U.S. intelligence community’s investigation of the global pandemic that has killed an estimated 6.85 million people.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/PIMYtj8I/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2023-02-28T16:15:55.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/PIMYtj8I.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/6268467/omicron-subvariant-xbb116-covid-19/","duration":"PT2M4S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/6268467/omicron-subvariant-xbb116-covid-19/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```