COVID-19 in India: 69 JN.1 variant cases reported till Monday, highest from Karnataka

Total 69 cases of the JN.1 sub-variant of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 have been reported as of December 25. Of these, the highest number of infections have been reported from Karnataka at 34 cases, followed by Goa, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana. Goa has reported 14 cases of the JN.1 variant whereas Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana have reported 6, 4 and 2 infections respectively, news agency ANI reported citing sources.

However, no clustering of cases has been reported so far and all the cases of the JN.1 subvariant have mild symptoms, as per these sources. India's total active COVID-19 caseload, on the other hand, has crossed the 4,100 milestone on Tuesday as the number of cases reached 4,170. The total death toll due to COVID-19 reached 5.33 lakh, according to the Union Health Ministry data.

Meanwhile, former World Health Organisation (WHO) chief scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan said there is no need to panic since JN.1 is a variant of interest and not of concern. Dr Swaminathan further urged people to be cautious and take proper precautions. India SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) chief Dr NK Arora said no additional dose of vaccine is needed against the subvariant at present.

"I would say prevention is required for all those who are 60 years of age or older, who are likely to have comorbidities and those who are on drugs that suppress our immunity, like cancer patients. If they have not precaution so far, then they are advised to take precaution; otherwise, there is no need for any additional doses," Dr Arora told news agency ANI.

He further said that many subvariants of Omicron have been reported but none of them led to more severe disease or hospitalisation. He highlighted that the major symptoms of JN.1 are similar to that of the other subvariants. "Symptoms are very similar on the basis that one cannot differentiate JN.1 from other subvariants of Omicron like fever, nasal discharge and cough. There can be occasional diarrhoea and severe body aches, and usually they recover in two or five days," he explained.

Recently, the WHO classified JN.1 as a variant of interest and said that the overall risk posed by this variant remains low based on current evidence.

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