Pune, December 20: Insacog, the central government’s consortium of laboratories, has identified 19 instances of the BA.2.86 descendant, JN.1 (known as Pirola), with one case in Maharashtra and 18 in Goa. This subvariant was recently discovered in Kerala, coinciding with a more than twofold increase in India’s active Covid cases over nine days, rising from 938 on December 11 to 1,970 on Tuesday.
Experts have raised concerns about this subvariant, which is suspected to contribute to a surge in Covid cases in various countries, including the US. Dr Rajeev Jayadevan, co-chairman of the National Indian Medical Association (IMA) Covid Task Force, said, “JN.1 is rapidly spreading in Western nations. Wastewater surveillance in these countries has shown a significant presence of this variant, indicating a high volume of community infections.”
Dr Jayadevan highlighted data from wastewater surveillance conducted by the Tata Institute for Genetics and Society (TIGS) in Bengaluru, indicating a notable spike. “This usually precedes regional outbreaks by approximately 10 days, but identifying cases depends on the efficiency of testing individuals with compatible symptoms,” he added. An Insacog official reported a recent fatality in Kerala, noting that it was attributed not just to Covid but also to a combination of pre-existing health conditions.
“The 18 JN.1 samples from Goa were linked to a cluster originating from a single event, a recent film festival. The Maharashtra JN.1 case was identified at the Goa-Maharashtra border… As of now, there haven’t been any clinical implications. We don’t perceive any immediate cause for concern. The surge in Covid cases in India seems to follow a seasonal/winter trend,” stated the Insacog official.
Vinod Scaria, a genome sequencing expert and researcher at Mumbai’s Vishwanath Cancer Care Foundation, noted that JN.1, a subset of Omicron, was detected while monitoring the development of lineage BA.2.86 in August 2023. The latest Insacog dashboard, updated on Tuesday, showcased a total of 20 JN.1 sequences. Of these, 18 were from Goa, one from Kerala, and one from Maharashtra. Additionally, a BA.2.86 sequence was identified in Goa.
“This presents a new variant landscape compared to the extensive XBB sequences reported by Insacog India in April 2023. Hence, after a lapse of seven months, Covid cases are rising again in India. This also signifies that the current surge in India is driven by an entirely new subvariant originating from BA.2.86, initially identified in Scandinavia in July 2023,” highlighted Dr. Jayadevan.
– With inputs from agencies