JN.1 scare: India records 841 Covid-19 cases, highest in 7 months
The new cases have pushed the active caseload to 4,309, the data updated at 8 am stated. The country also reported three new deaths due to the virus, with one fatality each in Kerala, Karnataka, and Bihar.
- Dec 31, 2023,
- Updated Dec 31, 2023 11:41 AM IST
Amid a spike in JN.1 infections, India on Sunday recorded its highest daily Covid cases - 841 - in over seven months, according to the Union Health Ministry.
The new cases have pushed the active caseload to 4,309, the data updated at 8 am stated. The country also reported three new deaths due to the virus, with one fatality each in Kerala, Karnataka, and Bihar.
Till the start of this month, the daily cases were relatively low, but the emergence of new sub-variant JN.1 has caused a rise in infection not only in India but also in several other countries like the US and Singapore.
Till Friday, 178 cases of JN.1 had been reported from nine states, with Goa reporting the highest count at 47 followed by 41 in Kerala. The other states where JN.1 cases have been detected are -- 36 in Gujarat, 34 in Karnataka, nine in Maharashtra, four in Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu, two from Telangana and one from Delhi.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the national public health agency of the US, recently said that JN.1 continued to cause an increasing share of infections and was now the most widely circulating variant in the United States.
For the two weeks ending on December 23, JN.1 was expected to account for 39-50 per cent of all Covid variants. "That's an increase from the projected prevalence two weeks ago of 15-29 per cent," it said.
JN.1's continued growth suggests that the variant is either more transmissible or better at evading our immune systems than other circulating variants, the health agency said. However, it added, it was too early to know whether or to what extent JN.1 would cause an increase in infections or hospitalisations.
Amid a spike in JN.1 infections, India on Sunday recorded its highest daily Covid cases - 841 - in over seven months, according to the Union Health Ministry.
The new cases have pushed the active caseload to 4,309, the data updated at 8 am stated. The country also reported three new deaths due to the virus, with one fatality each in Kerala, Karnataka, and Bihar.
Till the start of this month, the daily cases were relatively low, but the emergence of new sub-variant JN.1 has caused a rise in infection not only in India but also in several other countries like the US and Singapore.
Till Friday, 178 cases of JN.1 had been reported from nine states, with Goa reporting the highest count at 47 followed by 41 in Kerala. The other states where JN.1 cases have been detected are -- 36 in Gujarat, 34 in Karnataka, nine in Maharashtra, four in Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu, two from Telangana and one from Delhi.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the national public health agency of the US, recently said that JN.1 continued to cause an increasing share of infections and was now the most widely circulating variant in the United States.
For the two weeks ending on December 23, JN.1 was expected to account for 39-50 per cent of all Covid variants. "That's an increase from the projected prevalence two weeks ago of 15-29 per cent," it said.
JN.1's continued growth suggests that the variant is either more transmissible or better at evading our immune systems than other circulating variants, the health agency said. However, it added, it was too early to know whether or to what extent JN.1 would cause an increase in infections or hospitalisations.