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It's that time of year again: Sniffles, chills and stuffy noses are, unfortunately, back in style.

Cold and flu cases are currently rising across Canada, and allergy season is on its way despite a sluggish start.

On top of that, a new COVID-19 variant — XBB.1.16 or Arcturus — has emerged and is on the World Health Organization's radar.

Amid an increase in these conditions, overlapping symptoms between COVID-19, allergies and colds can make taking care of yourself confusing.

Read on to learn more about the new COVID-19 variant and how it differs from conditions like seasonal allergies and the common cold.

What is the new COVID-19 variant, XBB.1.16?

Health officials worldwide are keeping watch on a new COVID-19 variant called XBB.1.16, also known as Arcturus. It's an Omicron subvariant the WHO first warned about in March, labelling it a "variant of monitoring."

Believed to be more transmissible, Arcturus is the driving force behind a recent surge of COVID-19 cases in India. On Tuesday, the country's health ministry reported 61,233 COVID-19 cases — a notable jump from the 15,208 cases reported on March 31.

XBB.1.16 has also been detected in at least 29 countries, including the United States. Canada has not reported any cases of the variant.

Is XBB.1.16 dangerous?

Despite India seeing a rise in COVID-19 cases, the number of hospitalizations in the country has not increased.

In the variant's future, an infectious disease specialist and professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco said that should likely remain the case.

"I doubt it will lead to too many new hospitalizations or deaths," Dr. Monica Gandhi told Yahoo News. "I was just in India. ... There was an increase in cases but not an increase in hospitalizations."

Gandhi added that the coronavirus won't be entirely eradicated and it will continue to evolve. However, future variants won't necessarily become more dangerous. She also explained that most people have immunity against the virus, either from vaccines, infections or both.

"We're gonna have to live with this [virus] and we're going to see cases go up and down if we get a new subvariant that's more transmissible," she shared. "But hopefully, it will not lead to an increase in severe disease."

What are the symptoms of XBB.1.16?

Unlike previous coronavirus strains, some doctors believe Arcturus might cause conjunctivitis — often called pink eye — in children and adolescents.

Vipin M. Vashishtha, an Indian pediatrician and member of the WHO's Vaccine Safety Net program tweeted earlier this month that he started getting pediatric cases again after a six-month gap. He noted that infants had high fevers as well as colds and coughs, along with "itchy conjunctivitis with sticky eyes."

But pediatric infectious diseases expert Dr. Michael Chang told Yahoo News that pink eye cases might not necessarily be linked to a coronavirus infection and there's a lack of "context."

"Presumably, these kids are testing positive for COVID, but we don't know if they're testing positive for anything else either," he noted.

Chang added that conjunctivitis can be caused by other viruses that are circulating, such as adenovirus.

In children, pulmonologist Dr. Gurmeet Singh Chabbra told the Hindustan Times that Arcturus symptoms include sore throat, runny nose, blocked nose, fever, cough and difficulty swallowing.

For adults, he added that people with Arcturus could see those same symptoms, as well as a hoarse voice, shortness of breath, headache, body aches, fatigue, nausea, diarrhea and chest pain. While loss of taste and smell was more prevalent with previous coronavirus strains, Chabbra noted those symptoms are no longer as common.

How do those symptoms differ from allergies, colds and the flu?

While a lot of COVID-19 symptoms overlap with symptoms presented by other conditions, Ontario-based allergy specialist Dr. Anne Ellis told Yahoo Canada last summer it's important to rule out any confusion.

For allergic rhinitis or hay fever, some of those overlapping symptoms including nasal congestion, runny nose, cough and fatigue. But Ellis says an itchy nose and watery eyes are both a "hallmark of histamine release" connected to allergies.

"That does put you much more in the direction of 'it's probably allergies' as opposed to COVID-19, which again, does cause runny nose, sneezing and coughing, but not so much itchy nose or itchy watery eyes," she explained.

However, she noted that you likely have COVID-19 if you're also experiencing a "wicked sore throat."

According to Mayo Clinic, headache, fever, muscle aches, nausea and vomiting are often symptoms with COVID-19, but are rarely or never symptoms with allergies. Sneezing is also one symptom that's common with allergies but not with COVID-19.

The differences are also similar for colds, where headaches are rare and nausea and diarrhea typically never occur. However, cough, muscle aches, fever and sore throat are usually symptoms that come with a cold.

The lines blur between COVID-19 and a case of the flu, where almost all symptoms usually occur with either virus. While nausea and diarrhea sometimes occur with either illness, they're more common in children with the flu, according to Mayo Clinic.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), people with COVID-19 may take longer to present symptoms than people who have the flu. Moreover, they may be contagious for longer periods of time.

"You cannot tell the difference between flu and COVID-19 by the symptoms alone because they have some of the same signs and symptoms," according to the CDC. "Specific testing is needed to tell what the illness is and to confirm a diagnosis."

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