With New Subvariant Detected, Covid-19 Alert Sounded In Kerala, 4 Reported Dead (Image: Pixabay)
A case to the subvariant of Covid-19, JN.1 has been detected in Kerala. This was found as part of the routine surveillance undertaken by the INSACOG, which is a forum under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. The Health authorities of the state and the Union Health Ministry, together are monitoring the ongoing situation. Mock drills are being conducted by the Union Health Ministry in all the health facilities of states, to access and review the preparedness of the public health facilities, a PIB press release said.
The case was found from Karakulam at Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala state on December 8 and was tested as RT-PCR positive. The patient had exhibited mild symptoms of Influenza Like Illness (ILI) and had recovered.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has reported that as on December 17, 2023, Kerala has had 4 Covid-19 deaths, with the total for India coming to 5 deaths, the other state being Uttarakhand with one death. The total active cases have been reported as 1523, with 199 as the change since yesterday.
As part of the ongoing regular surveillance by the INSACOG, this subvariant strain was found and has been stated by Dr Rajiv Bahl, DG of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). INSACOG, the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium, is a multi-laboratory, multi-agency, all India network of Genomic Laboratories that has been keeping a surveillance on the Covid-19 situation from a genomic perspective. The ICMR also belongs to this consortium. In the context of Covid-19, as per the revised guidelines, patients who have ILI and Severe acute respiratory infection (SARI), are taken in for Covid-19 testing and those that turn positive are sent in for Whole Genome Sequencing.
In the last few weeks, there has been a rise in the cases being reported from Kerala. This can be linked to the rise in the number of samples being referred. The majority of these referred samples of ILI are mild and have recovered from home without any treatments.
The States and the Union Health Ministry is readily gearing up by assessing the preparedness of health systems under the direction of the District Collectors, which started from December 13 and is expected to be completed by December 18. At the same time, as part of this, the Union Ministry and the Kerala State Health Department is keeping a surveillance on this, the PIB release said.
Meanwhile, as the death count is being reported by newspapers as four or five, of the two elderly people who died of Covid-19, one person died at Kozhikode Medical College and the other died at Panoor, at a private hospital, reported the Indian Express. At Panoor, after this, alarm bells have been sounded with restrictions and precautions being advised. There are reports that face masks have been made mandatory in public spaces, reported Onmanorama.
