The Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) on Monday said 2,083 cases of Covid-19 sub-variant JN.1 and its lineages have been detected in the country so far. There are 814 SARS-CoV-2 sequences of JN.1 across 18 states and UTs while its sub-lineage JN.1.1 has been detected in 943 cases. JN.1.11 has been detected in 244 cases while the rest of the cases were detected in the sub-lineages of JN.1. Last month, the Centre asked the states and Union Territories to maintain a constant vigil amid detection of new variants in the country.
The World Health Organisation has classified JN.1 as a separate "variant of interest" given its rapidly-increasing spread, but said it poses a "low" global public health risk.
The JN.1 sub-variant of the coronavirus was previously classified as a variant of interest (VOI) as part of the BA.2.86 sub-lineages, the parent lineage that is classified as a VOI, the world body said.
In the meantime, India saw a single day rise of 112 cases of COVID-19, while the number of active cases of the infection was recorded at 1,460, the health ministry said on Monday.
No deaths have been reported in a span of 24 hours, according to the ministry's data updated at 8 am.
The number of daily cases had dropped to double-digits till December 5, but cases had begun to increase after emergence of a new variant and cold weather conditions.
After December 5, the maximum single-day rise of 841 new cases was reported on December 31, which is 0.2 per cent of the peak cases reported in May 2021, sources said.
Of the total active cases, a large majority of these (around 92 per cent) are recovering under home isolation.
"The currently available data suggests that the JN.1 variant is neither leading to an exponential rise in the new cases nor a surge in the hospitalisation and mortality," the source stated.