“I would say prevention is required for all those who are 60 years of age or older, who are likely to have comorbidities, and those who are on drugs that suppress our immunity, like cancer patients. If they have not taken precautions so far, then they are advised to take precautions; otherwise, there is no need for any additional doses,” NK Arora said while speaking with news agency ANI.

Identified over 400 subvariants of the Omicron

The INSACOG chief asserted that they have identified over 400 subvariants of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, but none of the sub-variants is associated with more severe disease. “Every week you hear something new coming up in different parts and then it spreads all over India. We have identified a large number of subvariants, over 400 subvariants, or mutations of this virus, and fortunately, none of these Omicron variants have really been associated with more severe disease or hospitalization,” he said.

Dr Arora also mentioned that the symptoms of JN.1 are very similar to the Omicron variant. “Symptoms are very similar on the basis that one cannot differentiate JN.1 from other subvariants of Omicron like fever, nasal discharge, and cough. There can be occasional diarrhea and severe body aches, and usually they recover in two to five days,” the doctor outlined.

JN.1 is less than 1%

“Within India, from October last week till now in the last 8 weeks, we have seen 22 cases. There is no evidence that it is spreading very rapidly. JN.1 is less than 1 percent of all the isolates so far. Recently, the number of cases has certainly increased, and the testing has also picked up,” he said.

“There is no increase in hospitalization. We see a lot of cases in Kerala, but I must also say that in other states where testing has increased recently, we are seeing a higher number of cases. But there is no increase in hospitalization or severe disease that requires ventilation or results in deaths,” the doctor added.

On Friday, India reported 752 new cases of Covid-19, and 4 deaths were attributed to the virus. The fresh cases take the total number of active cases to 3,420 across the nation. The health authorities of several states remain on high alert but have assured the citizens to not panic as no major increase in the severity of cases in noted so far.

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Published: 23 Dec 2023, 10:26 PM IST