Global variant JN.1 spreading rapidly in India, health official urges caution, not panic

NITI Aayog member (Health) Dr V K Paul reassures the public on Wednesday, stating that 21 cases of the Covid-19 sub-variant JN.1 have been identified nationwide. Official sources report 19 cases in Goa, and one each in Kerala and Maharashtra. While urging caution, Dr Paul emphasizes there is no need to panic. In the last two weeks, 16 Covid-19-related deaths were recorded, primarily among individuals with serious comorbidities.During a presentation on the global and domestic Covid situation, Health Ministry Secretary Sudhansh Pant highlighted that India's Covid cases remain significantly lower than global figures. However, concerns arise as active cases in the country surge from 115 on December 6 to 614 on Wednesday, December 20, within the past two weeks.

New Covid variant JN.1 that has been causing a spike in cases in US since September this year, has now been detected in India. Found in Kerala during a routine surveillance, the variant is currently under close monitoring.Health Ministry secretary Sudhansh Pant in a presentation on the global and domestic Covid situation said cases in India are significantly less compared to the global numbers. But in the past two weeks, there has been a steep rise in active cases from 115 on December 6 to 614 today.

Of this, 92.8 per cent of the cases are home-isolation, indicating mild illness, and no increase in hospitalisation rates have been seen due to Covid, Mr Pant said during the presentation. The cases that are hospitalised are due to other medical conditions, while Covid is an incidental finding, the Health Secretary said, adding a rise in daily positivity rate has been observed in Kerala, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, and Karnataka. Positivity rate is the number of confirmed cases per 100 tests.