Five people succumb to Covid in last 24 hours, 511 cases of JN.1 series variant reported till January 2

NEW DLEHI: The Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) under the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has reported five deaths due to Covid in the last 24 hours in the country. A total of 511 cases of the JN.1 series variant have been reported from 11 states till January 2, 2024.

602 new cases have been registered in the last 24 hours, and the total number of cases stood at cases are 4,50,15,136, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.

The active caseload stood at 4,440, which showed a decrease of 125 since Tuesday.

722 people recovered in the last 24 hours and the total recovered cases stood at 4,44,77,272.

State-wise distribution indicated 2 deaths in Kerala in the last 24 hours. The deceased has been identified as a 66-year-old male with Chronic Liver Disease, Multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS), and Sepsis and a 79-year-old female with coronary artery disease (CAD), T2DM, and Sepsis.

Karnataka reported one Covid death in the last 24 hours. A 45-year-old male with hypertension (HTN) from Vijayanagar lost his life due to Covid.

Punjab reported one Covid death. The deceased has been identified as a 62-year-old male with Pulmonary Kochs, Lung injury, and MODS.

Tamil Nadu reported one death due to Covid in the last 24 hours. A 74-year male with Interstitial Lung Disease, CAD, DM, and hypertension lost his life.

In Bihar reconciliation of mortality figures is ongoing. Odisha has reported 27 active cases on Tuesday.

32,946 tests were done on January 2 in the country, ICMR reported.

Further reconciliation of mortality figures is ongoing.

"A total of 511 cases of the JN.1 series variant have been reported from 11 states till January 2, 2024. Karnataka has reported 199 cases of the sub-variant. Kerala has reported 148 cases. 47 cases have been reported from Goa, 36 from Gujarat, 32 from Maharashtra," the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.

Tamil Nadu has reported 26 cases of JN.1 sub-variant. Delhi has reported 15 cases, and 4 cases have been reported from Rajasthan.

Telangana has reported two cases. Odisha and Haryana have reported one case each.

On the JN.1 sub-variant of COVID, Senior Consultant of Respiratory Medicine at Apollo Hospital, Dr Rajesh Chawla, said, "It spreads very fast. This is a variant of omicron, so it is likely to spread very fast. And gradually it is going to replace the other variants and become the predominant variant. JN.1 is a mild COVID virus and just like in Omicron, you did not see many patients of severe variety and only a few patients had severe disease, in the same way JN.1 is of mild variety. The symptoms in this include runny nose, cough, fatigue, pain in the throat and voice becoming hoarse while some people may suffer from diarrhoea."

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently classified JN.1 as a variant of interest, distinct from its parent lineage BA.2.86. However, the global health body emphasised that the overall risk posed by JN.1 remains low based on current evidence.