Amid concerns that JN.1 variant Covid has started spreading in various pockets of the country, NCR city Noida for the first time reported a positive case of after several months, officials said. As India witnessed a single day rise of 640 fresh infections with Kerala topping the tally on Friday, Dr Soumya Swaminathan, former WHO chief scientist, said that the new strain should not be dismissed as a “common cold” and warned saying “let us not take things lightly” this time.
However, the Union Government has asked people not to panic as yet.
Dr Swaminathan’s statement comes amid detection of twenty-two cases of COVID-19 sub-variant JN.1, with 21 cases being reported from Goa and another from Kerala, official sources said. Kerala has so far registered 265 fresh Covid-19 infections and one death due to the disease in the last 24 hours. The total number of active cases have climbed to 2,997 from 2,669 the day before, according to Union Health Ministry data.
About the first Noida case, Gautam Buddh Nagar Chief Medical Officer Dr Sunil Sharma said that the 54-year-old male patient lives in Noida but works at a multinational company in Gurugram. “His test sample has been sent to Delhi for genome sequencing. The result is awaited,” Sharma said. District Surveillance Officer and public healthcare expert Dr Amit Kumar said the patient travelled to Nepal earlier this month and also went to work at his Gurugram office after returning.
“The patient is asymptomatic and went for the Covid-19 test on his own,” Kumar said, adding that this is the only confirmed case in Gautam Budh Nagar so far.CMO Sharma said testing for the virus had come down in the district this year.
People can get themselves tested for Covid at primary and community health centres here and the district hospital, he said, adding that residents are being urged to follow Covid-appropriate measures amid concerns over the infection spreading once again.
People should wash their hands with soap for a minute, practice social distancing, use alcohol-based sanitisers, wear face masks when outdoors, among other measures, Kumar said.
Twenty-two cases of COVID-19 sub-variant JN.1 have been detected in the country till Thursday, with 21 cases being reported from Goa and another from Kerala, official sources said.
In Goa, the sources said, no clustering of cases of the JN.1 variant has been seen and all infected people have recovered without complications. Those infected had mild upper respiratory tract infection with symptoms of mild dry cough, sore throat with or without fever, they said.
In November, 62 samples were sent to different INSACOG labs for whole genome sequencing for detection of the JN.1 variant, while in December, so far, 253 samples have been sent, the sources said on Friday.
Even though the number of cases is rising and the JN.1 sub-variant has been detected in the country, there is no cause of immediate concern as 92 per cent of those infected are opting for home-based treatment, indicating mild illness, officials said.
The country’s Covid-19 tally now stands at 4.50 crore (4,50,07,212). The death toll climbed to 5,33,328 with one more fatality reported from Kerala, the data updated at 8 am stated.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease has increased to 4,44,70,887. The national recovery rate stands at 98.81 per cent, according to the health ministry’s website. The case fatality rate stands at 1.19 per cent.
The countries reporting the largest proportion of JN.1 sequences are --France (20.1 per cent,1552 sequences), the USA (14.2 per cent,1072 sequences), Singapore (12.4 per cent ,934 sequences), Canada (6.8 per cent,512 sequences), the UK (5.6 per cent, 422 sequences) and Sweden (5.0 per cent,381 sequences).
The World Health Organization (WHO) recently classified JN.1 as a variant of interest, distinct from its parent lineage BA.2.86. However, the global health body emphasised that the overall risk posed by JN.1 remains low based on current evidence.
