Maharashtra has reported reported its first case of JN.1 new variant on December 20 following which the public health department have issued circular stating following Covid norms is compulsory especially wearing mask. As per the data, the state reported 14 new covid cases on December 20, of which four are from Mumbai.
“A 41-year-old male from Sindhudurg district has been detected with JN.1 sub variant. However patient is under observation and we are tracing his close contacts. Meanwhile we also urged citizens to wear mask and follow covid appropriate behaviour,” said Dr Pratapsinh Sarnikar, Joint Director, Directorate of Health Service, Maharashtra.
Dr Sarnikar further said that they instructed all the districts health officers to strengthen the survey of Influenza like illness(I.L.I)/Severe adverse respiratory infection(SARI) patients and conduct tests of patients detected with ILI and SARI.
Meanwhile, the Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare today chaired a high-level meeting to review the COVID-19 situation in India and preparedness of public health system for surveillance, containment and management of COVID-19. He also reiterated that COVID is not over yet and requested states to monitor emerging evidences of COVID-19 cases, symptoms and case.
Dr Mandaviya also stressed that the need for collective efforts between the Centre and the States to deal with the emerging situation in the spirit of “Whole of Government” approach. He directed for strengthening the surveillance system for whole genome sequencing of positive case samples to track the variants through Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) network to ensure timely detection of newer variants, circulating in the country.
Meanwhile, the total active COVID cases in India are significantly less compared to the global scenario, in the last two weeks there has been a steep rise in active cases from 115 on December to 614 on December 20. However 92.80 per cent of the cases is under home isolation.
However there is a rise in daily positivity rate has been observed in a few states like Kerala, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Karnataka.
“We are currently observing the new JN.1 subvariant under intense scientific scrutiny, but not a cause of immediate concern. No clustering of cases has been observed in India due to JN.1 and all the cases were found to be mild and all of them have recovered without any complications,” said an official.
Dr Rajiv Bahl, Secretary, Department of Health Research and DG, ICMR informed that ICMR is currently working on genome sequencing of the new JN.1 variant. “All states should monitor the COVID-19 scenario and increase RT-PCR tests but noted that there is no cause for panic,” he said.
