Japan declares it: Corona is like seasonal flu. And the director of the health organization: the virus is here to stay

Japan has decided to downgrade the coronavirus to seasonal flu, when will the effects of the decision begin? And what does it mean? What is the latest data from WHO on COVID-19? What is the XBB.1.16 variant of Corona?

Legal classification

Tokyo decided on Thursday to downgrade the legal classification of the Corona virus to the level of seasonal flu starting from the eighth of next May, paving the way for the return of social and economic activities to full normality, according to the German Press Agency.

Japan's Kyodo News Agency reported that the decision comes as the government is considering advancing the date of canceling the rest of the border restrictions imposed in the face of Corona by a week, to become midnight tomorrow, Friday, in anticipation of an increase in the number of travelers during the Golden Week holidays that begin next Saturday.

According to the current rules, all those entering Japan must present a certificate stating that they have received at least 3 doses of the Corona vaccine, or proof of negative for the virus.

Japanese Health and Labor Minister Katsunobu Kato said at a press conference, "The special measures taken by the government to confront the Corona virus will end on the seventh of next May."

Covid deaths down by 95%

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday reported a 19% drop in deaths from COVID-95 since the start of the year, but warned that the virus was still present, AFP reported.

WHO President Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference: "It is encouraging that the continued decline in reported COVID-19 deaths, which has been recorded at 95% since the beginning of this year," WHO President Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference.

"However, some countries are seeing increases in mortality rates, and in the past four weeks 14,<> people have lost their lives to this disease," he said.

"The emergence of the new XPB 1.16 variant shows that the virus is still mutating, and is still capable of causing new waves," he warned.

Maria van Kerkhove, technical director of the WHO's emergencies programme, said the XPB substrain was now dominant around the world.

She pointed out that these variants are characterized by growth and the ability to evade the immune system, which means that infected people can catch the virus again despite taking vaccines.

She called for increased surveillance through testing "so that we can monitor the virus itself and understand what all these variants mean."

Coronavirus is here to stay

Tedros reiterated that the WHO still hopes to declare an end to COVID-19 as a global health emergency, as the committee reporting to him on the status of the virus is due to meet next month.

"This virus is here to stay, and all countries need to learn how to deal with it along with other infectious diseases," he said.

Tedros noted that an estimated one in 10 infections have caused long-term COVID, meaning hundreds of millions of people will need long-term care.

The head of the World Health Organization also revealed that the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted vaccination programs for other diseases, with some 67 million children missing at least one essential vaccine injection between 2019 and 2021.

Vaccination rates have fallen to what they were in 2008, leading to outbreaks of measles, diphtheria, polio and yellow fever, he said, calling on all countries to address "barriers to vaccination".

What is the "XPB 1.16" variant of Corona?

The XPB 1.16 strain — dubbed Arctoros — was discovered in India and has spread to 29 other countries, according to a report in Healthline.

This strain appears to lead to a higher fever than other strains associated with Omicron.

The XPB 1.16 variant causes many symptoms familiar to previous strains of COVID-19, as well as new symptoms such as conjunctivitis.

Experts say the new variant is highly contagious and is currently of interest, but not a cause for concern at the moment.

How is XPB 1.16 different from other COVID-19 strains?

Hannah Neumann, director of infection prevention at Lenox Hill Hospital in the US, said: "It has been reported to be similar in appearance to previous subvariants of omicron, but an additional mutation in the spike protein could make it able to increase infection and disease."

Neumann said the strain is a "variant under surveillance" by the World Health Organization and you don't have to worry about it.

Dr. William Schaffner, professor of preventive medicine and health policy and professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University in the United States, said, "Arctoros is a subvariant of Omicron, so it is associated with Omicron, and it has an additional mutation in this spike protein that makes it more infectious than Omicron."

Schaffner explained that this new variant produces the same disease as previous variants, and does not appear to be very serious, but there are some clinical characteristics that make it different.

The new variant tends to cause a high temperature, and the cause of fever in the Arctoros variant is the inflammatory response in the body, which is characteristic of this variant.

"The other, more unique thing is that, especially in children, it tends to cause conjunctivitis, which is inflammation of the outside of the eye," Schaffner said.

How to protect yourself from the new Arcturus variant?

The same methods we have used to keep ourselves safe from COVID-19 over the past three years are still in place with the latest variant of Arcturus.

"COVID-19 prevention measures remain the same with the subvariant Arcturus," Neumann said. This includes vaccinations, wearing a mask, keeping a distance and washing hands.