India witnessed a single-day spike in the number of Covid infections which rose to 656 while the active cases have currently increased to 3,742, according to updated data reports of the Union Health Ministry data on Sunday.
While there was reportedly one death in Kerala in the past 24 hours, the updated data showed at 8 am.
Amid a surge in COVID-19 cases in India with the detection of a new subvariant JN.1, Dr NK Arora, India SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) chief said that there is no need of any additional dose of vaccine against the subvariant as of now. While speaking to ANI, Cr NK Arora said, “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 hospitalisation.”
On the other hand, the total number of active cases of Covid-19 in the country was therefore recorded at 3,420.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has recently identified the JN.1 variant as a variant of interest while also differentiating it from its parent lineage which is BA.2.86. Although JN1 variant has a quick dissemination rate, the global health organization has emphasised that the overall risk associated with JN.1 is currently considered to be at a low rate which is based on the available evidence.
WHO has also asked the countries to fasten their testing procedures and also to scale up the surveillance procedure.
