Uttarakhand govt issues advisory on JN.1 sub-variant; hospitals on alert for COVID-19 prevention

Dehradun (Uttarakhand) [India]: The Uttarakhand government is on high alert regarding the new JN.1 sub-variant of coronavirus and has issued an advisory in this regard.

Health Secretary R Rajesh Kumar said that the number of patients with the JN.1 variant is increasing in some states. In response, an advisory has been issued for all districts and hospitals in the state, emphasizing every possible effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The Health Secretary has instructed all District Magistrates and Chief Medical Officers (CMOs) to adhere to the guidelines for COVID-19 prevention in hospitals. Additionally, respiratory, lung, and heart patients should be closely monitored, and individuals with influenza cases should be tested.

Hospitals in the state have been instructed to enter all information about such patients into the Integrated Health Information Platform portal. Furthermore, there is an emphasis on raising awareness about respiratory hygiene among the public.

As of now, there have been no reported cases of the new COVID-19 variant, JN.1, in the state. However, as a precautionary measure, all hospitals in the state have been put on alert.

Meanwhile, the Karnataka government has ordered people over 60 years of age, those with heart and kidney diseases, and those with fever, phlegm, and colds to wear masks compulsorily amid the JN.1 subvariant scare.

Karnataka Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao has announced that the state government will issue an order on Tuesday following the detection of the JN.1 subvariant of the coronavirus in Kerala.

India’s COVID-19 situation remains under control, with an active caseload of 1,828 as of Monday. However, one death was reported in Kerala, where the JN.1 subvariant of the coronavirus was recently detected. JN.1 was first detected in September 2023 in the United States.

In the wake of the surge in respiratory diseases and the new JN.1 COVID sub-variant, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said that the virus is evolving and changing and urged the member states to continue with strong surveillance and sequence sharing.