In India, 335 fresh coronavirus cases and five deaths was on Sunday reported.
Four people died due to COVID-19 in Kerala while one person died in Uttar Pradesh.
The number of active cases crossed 1,700 and went up to 1,701, as per the Union Health Ministry data.
India’s total caseload stands at 4.50 crore and the death toll at 5.33 lakh, as per the data. More than 4.44 crore people have recovered from coronavirus so far. While the national recovery rate stands at 98.81 per cent, the case fatality rate stands at 1.19 per cent. Around 220.67 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in India so far, as per the ministry.
The development comes as a case of COVID-19 sub-variant JN.1 has been detected in Kerala under the routine surveillance by the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG). The sub-variant was detected in a positive RT-PCR sample from Thiruvananthapuram’s Karakulam on December 8.
The sample, belonging to a 79-year-old woman, tested positive for COVID-19 on November 18. The woman had mild symptoms of influenza-like illness and has since recovered from COVID. A central government release said that the Union Health Ministry in touch with Kerala authorities.
“There has been an increasing trend of Covid cases from Kerala since the last few weeks. This has been attributed to an increase in several samples from ILI cases being referred for testing. A majority of these cases are clinically mild and recovering on their own at their homes without any treatment,” the press release said.
Kerala Health Minister Veena George on Sunday said that the COVID-19 sub-variant JN.1 was not a cause for concern. George told the media that the sub-variant was detected months ago in Indian passengers screened at the Singapore airport. She, however, asked people to remain cautious and urged those with comorbidities to remain careful.
“There is no need for any concern. It’s a sub-variant. It was just found here. Months ago, this variant was detected in a few Indians who were screened at the Singapore airport. It’s just that Kerala has identified the variant here through genome sequencing. There is no need to worry. The situation is being closely monitored,” she said.
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