The World Health Organization (WHO) designated the SARS-CoV-2 subvariant JN.1 as a distinct “variant of interest” (VOI) from its original lineage BA.2.86 due to its rapid proliferation.
This latest Covid wave has been attributed to the new subvariant JN.1.
Kerala has reported the highest number of JN.1 cases in India at 154 as of Sunday, 7 January, followed by Maharashtra (111), Gujarat (76), Goa (51), Telangana and Rajasthan (32), Andhra Pradesh(29), Tamil Nadu (22), Delhi (16), Karnataka (eight), Odisha (three), and West Bengal (two).
India, overall, reported 536 cases of the variant since November 2023, according to the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG).
The World Health Organisation (WHO) designated the SARS-CoV-2 subvariant JN.1 as a distinct “variant of interest” (VOI) from its original lineage BA.2.86 due to its rapid proliferation.
The earliest known case of the JN.1 variant emerged in Kerala on 10 November, when a male patient tested positive for Covid-19, prompting his samples to undergo genomic sequencing.
India has recorded 756 new cases of Covid, while the number of active cases of the infection stood at 4,049, the health ministry said on Sunday.
Five deaths — two each from Kerala and Maharashtra and one from Jammu and Kashmir — 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 5 December, 2023, but cases began to again increase after the emergence of a new variant and cold weather conditions.
After 5 December, a maximum increase in single-day cases was reported on 31 December 31, when 841 cases were reported, official sources said.
Of the total active cases, a large majority of these (around 92 percent) 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 hospitalisation and mortality,” the sources stated.
India has witnessed three waves of Covid-19 in the past with the peak incidence of daily new cases and deaths being reported during the Delta wave in April-June 2021. At its peak, 4,14,188 new cases and 3,915 deaths were reported on 7 May, 2021.
Since the pandemic began in early 2020, more than 4.5 crore people have been infected and over 5.3 lakh died.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease stands at over 4.4 crore with a national recovery rate of 98.81 percent, according to the ministry’s website.
According to the ministry, 220.67 crore doses of Covid vaccines have so far been administered in the country.
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