No cause for panic over the new Covid variant

The emergence of a new Covid variant JN.1 has sparked some concern, particularly in light of the year-end holidays and festivities. The World Health Organization (WHO) classified JN.1 as a separate variant of interest (VOI) on December 19, distinct from the parent lineage BA.2.86.

- Rajib Dasgupta

On the surface, the numbers may appear worrying. But there are several reasons why there is no cause for alarm.

Let's begin with what we know so far. There has been a sixfold rise in active cases in India, from 115 on December 6, 2023 to 752 on December 23-to be sure, from a very low base. Only 22 cases of the newly emergent JN.1 sub-variant have been detected so far, most of them from Goa and one each in Kerala and Maharashtra. Six most-recent Covid deaths were reported from Kerala (three), Karnataka (two) and Punjab (one). However, it is not yet confirmed whether these are JN.1 variant cases. At the same time, a rise in daily positivity rate has been reported from Kerala, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Karnataka. With increased testing, Kerala is reporting most of the new cases, and the solitary JN.1 case is a 79-year-old woman and India's first case of this variant. The JN.1 cases of Goa were from a single cluster who attended a film festival. Maharashtra's only JN.1 case diagnosed so far is a 41-year-old man in Sindhudurg, a district that shares a border with North Goa District and he had a travel history to Goa.