COVID-19 JN 1 Variant: India records new 628 cases, one death in last 24 hours

COVID-19 JN 1 Variant:  As many as 628 new COVID-19 cases have been recorded in the 24 hours till 8 am today (December 26, 2023). One death has been reported in Kerala. There are a total of 4,170 active cases, as per the data provided by Union Health Ministry on Tuesday morning. There are a total of 92 active cases in Karnataka. The southern state has also reported three deaths.
 
Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj on Monday said that the national capital was seeing three to four COVID-19 cases on average every day and asserted that the city was well equipped to fight the virus' resurgence.

Sixty-three cases of COVID-19 sub-variant JN.1 had been reported in the country till Sunday, including 34 in Goa, official sources said on Monday. Nine cases have been detected in Maharashtra, eight in Karnataka, six in Kerala, four in Tamil Nadu, and two in Telangana, they added. "There was a meeting with the Centre over the COVID-19 situation, and we were informed that the cases are increasing more in southern states like Kerala, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu," Bharadwaj told reporters on the sidelines of an event.

"We have been conducting tests and we have received on an average three to four cases per day which is less than even one per cent. We have conducted mock drills and made all necessary arrangements," he said.
 
States have been asked to monitor and report district-wise cases of Influenza-like Illness (ILI) and Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI) from all health facilities regularly for early detection of a rising trend of cases. India saw a single-day rise of 628 new coronavirus cases with the number of active cases rising to 4,054, the Union Health Ministry said on Monday.
 
The death toll due to the viral infection was recorded at 5,33,334 to date since January 2020, with one new death reported from Kerala in 24 hours, according to the ministry's data updated at 8 am. The JN.1 (BA.2.86.1.1) sub-variant of COVID-19 emerged in August in Luxembourg. It is a descendant of the BA.2.86 lineage (Pirola) of SARS-COV2.