Kerala reports first case of COVID-19 sub-strain JN.1

On December 8, Kerala found a case of COVID-19 sub-variant JN.1, PTI reported citing officials. A 79-year-old woman's sample had tested positive for influenza-like illness (ILI) on November 18, and that she had recovered from COVID-19.

According to the reports, over 90 per cent of COVID-19 cases in India right now are mild and are being treated at home.

A JN.1 sub-variant traveller from India was previously discovered in Singapore. The individual was a resident of the Tiruchirapalli region of Tamil Nadu and had arrived in Singapore on October 25. Since then no increase in cases was reported in this region.


No other case of JN.1 variant has been detected in India, as per PTI sources.

Concerns have been raised regarding the impact of the Covid subvariant JN.1, a descendant of BA.2.86.

Where JN.1 has been discovered in Kerala, surveillance has been conducted by the India SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG), a multi-laboratory, multi-agency, pan-Indian network tasked with sequencing and monitoring new dangerous Covid-19 variants.

"This variant is a subvariant of BA.2.86 that was isolated and reported in November." There are some JN.1 cases here," Chief of INSACOG NK Arora told ANI.

"India is keeping a vigil and that's the reason no hospitalisation or severe disease has been reported so far," ANI quoted Arora.

(With inputs from Agencies)