India once again faces a surge in the Covid-19 cases. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare released a data of total number of active cases that turned out to be 2,997. Kerala reported 265 fresh Covid-19 cases and one death in the last 24 hours alone. There were 594 cases of Covid-19 on Thursday taking the number of active cases from 2,311 on the previous day to a total of 2,669, according to Union Health Ministry data.
Meanwhile, former Chief Scientist of the World Health Organization (WHO) Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, amid growing concern about the emergence of a new variant of the coronavirus, asserted that there is no need to panic now because it is interesting but definitely not alarming. However, Dr. Swaminathan urged people to take all the necessary precautions for their well being.
Former Director General of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Dr. Swaminathan also mentioned that, people must remain cautious but they do not need to worry about the new variant as there isn’t any data that suggests that this variant JN.1 is more severe or causes pneumonia leading to more deaths.
“I think what we need to do is try to take the normal preventive measures that we are all now familiar with. We were familiar with Omicron, so it’s the same family. So not much has changed, but 1 or 2 new mutations have come up. And that’s why I think WHO has said let’s keep a watch on it. It’s a variant of interest. It’s not a variant of concern,” said the doctor. In addition, she insisted upon avoiding being in very closed environments with very poor ventilation and toxic people without a mask as a prolonged contact with an infected person increases the risk of infection.
She further advised, “Try to be in an open space rather than closed. In most cases, people have gatherings in ventilated places today, entering into the season of gatherings.” She continued, “If you have some warning symptoms and signs like severe fatigue, prolonged fever or you’re feeling breathless, visit the hospital.”
However, the World Health Organization emphasized that, based on current evidence, the overall risk of JN.1 remains low.