December 28, 2023
NEW DELHI – National capital Delhi on Wednesday reported its first case of JN.1 coronavirus sub-variant, Health Minister Sourabh Bhardwaj said.
The health minister said that three samples of Covid patients were sent for genome sequencing and one of them returned positive for new variant.
“Out of the 3 samples sent for genome sequencing, one is JN.1 & two are Omicron,” Bhardwaj said.
The minister, however, added that JN.1 is a mild infection and there is no need to panic.
“JN.1 is a sub-variant of Omicron and is a mild infection. This is the one spreading in south India. There is no need to panic. It causes mild sickness,” he added.
With this, a total of 110 JN.1 Covid sub-variant cases have been reported in the country so far, a source in the Union Health Ministry said.
Of these, Gujarat reported 36 cases, Karnataka 34, Goa 14, Maharashtra nine, Kerala six, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu four each, and Telangana two.
According to the data issued by the Union Health Ministry on Wednesday, as many as 529 Covid cases were recorded in the country in the past 24 hours.
With the addition of the new cases, the overall caseload in the country rose to 4,50,10,190. This includes the freshly detected 110 JN.1 Covid sub-variant cases.