Kerala rings alarm bells with Covid-19 sub-variant JN.1 detection
By Our Special Correspondent
Ne Delhi, December 17: The Covid-19 scare is back after the health authorities detected sub-variant JN.1 from the sample of a 79-year old women in Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala. The southern state currently has an active caseload of 1324 who have reported the Covid-19 symptoms.
Union Health Ministry in a statement on Saturday said that a case of COVID-19 sub-variant JN.1 has been detected in Kerala. Director General of the Indian Council of Medical Research Dr Rajiv Bahl stated that the case was detected as part of the ongoing routine surveillance activity by the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium-INSACOG. This exercise is routinely undertaken by the network of genomic laboratories monitoring Covid-19.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said that the “case was detected in an RT-PCR positive sample which was tested positive last month. The patient had mild symptoms of influenza-like illness and has since recovered from Covid-19”. It added that there has been an increasing trend of Covid-19 cases from Kerala in the recent weeks. Increasing number of samples from influenza-like illness cases are being referred for testing, said the ministry, while adding that a majority of the cases are clinically mild with patients recovering on their own at their homes without any treatment.
JN.1 is a sub-lineage of the BA.2.86 Omicron variant and was first detected in Luxembourg in August. It had afterwards spread over to other countries. The US health department had warned earlier that this variant had the potential to scape the immune system of the people.
Mathrubhoomi in a reported quoted Dr Ishwar Gilada saying that the sub-variant has been in circulation in 38 countries. He added that the variant is certainly new for India.
The Health Ministry has also stressed that the Centre is in a regular touch with Kerala government. It said that monitoring of various points of entry is being undertaken. The Ministry has also stated that a mock drill in all health facilities in States is currently underway. The exercise is meant to assess public health and hospital preparedness measures. The Health Ministry said that “this activity, which started on 13th of this month is being carried out under the overall supervision of the district collectors and is likely to be completed by Monday”.
Malyalam Manorama in a report said that almost 1000 samples are being tested daily for Covid-19 in Kerala. The Malyalam daily also reported that two deaths were reported in Kerala this week due to Covid-19. While restrictions on public gathering have been imposed in a few parts in Kerala, the Centre is keeping a close watch on the Covid-19 cases.
It may be recalled that the Centre had also issued advisories to the states in the wake of the outbreak of pneumonia among children in China. The World Health Organisation had also sought replies from China on the outbreak of the pneumonia among children. China had denied presence of any unusual pathogen in the cases of pneumonia among children.
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