Rajasthan University of Health Science’s Vice Chancellor Dr. Sudhir Bhandari asked fellow citizens not to panic about the new variant JN.1 due to the strong vaccination program in the country.
Dr Sudhir Bhandari said “Once the genome sequencing result is not, then we can make out that this variant belongs to which lineage of the omicron.” He however, advised senior citizens and patients with comorbidities to be a little extra cautious.
“This variant is not very critical, symptoms are mild to moderate but senior citizens and patients with comorbidities may face critical conditions and hence we advise them to remain isolated,” Dr Bhandari informed.
VIDEO | "New cases of Covid are being detected. The variant of interest is JN.1 which is quite infectious and has similar symptoms on infection. But, our situation now is different due to widespread vaccination and prior infection among the people," says Dr. Sudhir Bhandari, Vice… pic.twitter.com/YXOjG4StZ5
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) December 21, 2023
Due to the surge in the COVID-19 cases in the country, Union Health minister Mansukh Mandaviya on December 20, held a high-level review meeting on preparedness for respiratory illnesses and the COVID 19 upsurge. The centre has directed the states to monitor the occurrence of the respiratory diseases district-wise.
As the Union Health Ministry has sounded a new alert for COVID-19, preparations to fight against the disease have been started in Jammu. In Shri Maharaja Gulab Singh Hospital, one of the major hospitals in the region, a COVID ward has been set up.
Meanwhile, on December 20, Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said that the city Government is reviewing the COVID preparedness of the public health infrastructure in the national capital.
“We have to be cautious but not create panic,” Saurabh Bharadwaj told media reacting to the reports of a new COVID variant detected in the country.
“We held meetings with virologists, pulmonologists and community health experts in Delhi two weeks back. We had told them to increase genome sequencing so that if the variant is detected in Delhi, we become alert. We are also reviewing our COVID preparedness, ” he added.
Notably, three deaths were reported in Kerala, two in Karnataka, one in Punjab and six in West Bengal, as per the official website of the Ministry of Health, Government of India. The number of active cases in the country is 2669.
(with inputs from ANI)
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