India on Sunday recorded 335 fresh Covid-19 cases and five deaths, of which four were in Kerala and one in Uttar Pradesh, the Union Health Ministry said.
India witnessed 335 fresh COVID-19 infections on Sunday and the number of active cases grew to 1,701, according to the Union Health Ministry.
Five deaths were reported — four in Kerala, where the Covid sub-variant JN.1 was detected, and one in Uttar Pradesh, the Health Ministry data showed. The total Covid caseload in the country now stands at 4.50 crore (4,50,04,816).
The number of people who recovered from the infection scaled to 4.46 crore (4,44,69,799). The national recovery rate reached 98.81 per cent, the Health Ministry said.
Till now, 5,33,316 people have died due to Covid-19 and the case fatality rate stood at 1.19 per cent.
COVID-19 Sub-Variant JN.1 in Kerala
A case of COVID-19 sub-variant JN.1 has been found in a 79-year-old woman from Kerala as part of current routine surveillance of the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG), a senior official from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said on Saturday (December 16).
The case was detected in an RT-PCR positive sample from Karakulam in Thiruvananthapuram district of the southern state on December 8, Dr Rajiv Bahl, Director General of the ICMR, said.
The sample had tested positive on November 18 with mild symptoms of Influenza Like Illness (ILI) and has now recovered from Covid-19.
On Sunday, Kerala Health Minister Veena George said the Covid-19 sub-variant JN.1 that was detected in the state was not a cause for worry.
Talking to the media about the new variant, George said the sub-variant was detected months ago in Indian passengers who were screened at Singapore airport.
“There is no need for any concern. It’s a sub-variant. It was just found here. Months ago, this variant was detected in a few Indians who were screened at the Singapore airport. It’s just that Kerala has identified the variant here through genome sequencing. There is no need to worry. The situation is being closely monitored,” she said.
The state health minister, however, urged people to remain cautious especially those with comorbidities.
(with inputs from PTI)
Source: dnaindia.com