Cases increased 52% globally in past one month, says WHO; India records 752 cases

Covid 19 cases in India have started increasing once again. Along with this, the threat of JN.1 sub-variant is also being seen with its first case reported in Kerala. JN.1 is a descendant of the “pirola” variant BA 2.86, which by itself is an Omicron subvariant. JN.1 has an additional mutation receptor binding domain (L455S) compared to BA 2.86. JN.1 has extensive resistance across receptor binding domain classes 1, 2, and 3 and shows higher immune evasion as compared with BA 2.86 and other resistant strains. The World Health Organization has classified JN.1 as a variant of interest. IMA COVID Task Force Dr Rajeev Jayadevan on Thursday said that the new strain can be problematic for people of old age and those with multiple comorbidities.

Speaking of Covid cases in India, India on Thursday recorded 594 fresh COVID-19 infections while the number of active cases increased to 2,669 from 2,311 the previous day. The death toll climbed to 5,33,327 with six more people — three from Kerala, two from Karnataka and one from Punjab — succumbing to the viral disease.