No cases of new Covid variant KP.2-FLiRT in Tamil Nadu, says Health Department

CHENNAI: The State Health Department, through the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine (DPH), will issue an advisory on prevention of COVID-19, as the KP.2-FLiRT variant has surged in Singapore.

With several parts of the country reporting cases of the new variant, the vigil on COVID cases is being intensified.

However, the officials say that the new variant has not been reported in the State yet. Currently, Tamil Nadu records 15 active COVID cases with one case reported on Sunday.

So far, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Goa, Uttarakhand, Odisha, Rajasthan, and Gujarat have reported 286 cases, which are the confirmed cases of KP.2-FLiRT variant, a descendant of the JN.1 variant of Omicron.

The KP.2 variant is replacing the JN.1 variant, which has been dominant in the State for the last few months. The symptoms of the new variant do not differ much from the previous variants. Some include fever, runny nose, cough, breathing difficulty, loss of taste and/or smell, sore throat and fatigue.

A senior official from the State Health Department said that the FLiRT variants had not shown major risk of transmission. “Until February-March, JN.1 was the dominant variant. Updated reports indicate that the common variants in TN are still JN1, JN 1.11., JN 1.11.1 and JD 2. The KP.2 is a subsequent variant and is reported to be mild. But the cases will be monitored to ensure prevention and control,” said Dr T S Selvavinayagam, DPH.