#Omicron variant in India

[sky2starstravel]

India issues travel advisory for international passengers over Omicron variant

India issues travel advisory for international passengers over Omicron variant

India has issued revised guidelines for international travellers in view of Omicron variant COVID-19. The new guidelines will come into effect from December 1. #India #OmicronVariant #TravelAdvisory About Channel: WION -The World is One News, examines global issues with in-depth analysis. We provide much more than the news of the day. Our aim to empower people to explore their world. With our…

[munsifurdu]

اومیکرون کے نئے ویرینٹ کا پتہ چلنے کے بعد تلنگانہ میں چوکسی

ریاست تلنگانہ میں کووڈ کے یومیہ کیسس میں تیزی کے ساتھ کمی آرہی ہے، ایسے میں نئے ویرینٹ کا پتہ چلنے کے بعد محکمہ صحت نے ریاست میں چوکسی اختیار کرلی ہے۔ #MunsifUrdu

حیدرآباد: اومیکرون کے نئے ذیلی ویرینٹ کا پتہ چلنے کے بعد جس سے ملک کو نیا خطرہ لاحق ہوسکتا ہے، تلنگانہ کے محکمہ صحت وطبابت نے چوکسی اختیار کرلی ہے۔ ذرائع کے مطابق محکمہ صحت وطبابت، اومیکرون کے نئے ویرینٹBF.7 کے بارے میں مزید جانکاری حاصل کررہا ہے۔ اس ویرینٹ کا گجرات کے بائیو ٹکنالوجی ریسرچ سنٹر میں پتہ چلا ہے۔ یہ نیا ویرینٹ انتہائی معتدی سمجھا جاتا ہے اور یہ تیزی کے ساتھ پھیلتا ہے۔ نئے…

[covid-safer-hotties]

Why Biden’s premature COVID ending could help it surge - Published Sept 23, 2022

Two years out from the publication of this article, and we can really see how true these warnings were. Why does the mainstream media and DNC refuse to do anything about forever covid?

This week, President Biden said what millions of Americans have been hoping to hear since the spring of 2020: “The pandemic is over.”

I understand the impulse to close the book and move on. But I am deeply concerned that this declaration is not only premature but also dangerous.

The SARS-CoV-2 virus has shown us, again and again, the danger of hubris. Think of the lethal impact of the omicron virus last winter, just when we were so grateful that the delta wave had ebbed. Think of the deadly surges this summer, just when we were planning our long-delayed vacations. This is a virus that has humbled us too often. We must approach it with humility.

This declaration has many damaging effects: As others have noted, it will now be even harder to persuade Americans to get the new bivalent boosters. It’ll be tougher to persuade Congress to fund essential COVID responses. And it will be nearly impossible for local officials to impose new indoor mask requirements should another surge arrive.

To be sure, Biden did acknowledge in his “60 Minutes” interview that “we still have a problem with COVID” and added that “we’re still doing a lot of work on it.” But he sandwiched that message between two flat declarations that the pandemic is over. Those are the soundbites that have reverberated most loudly, and they are decidedly unhelpful.

Dr. Tom Frieden, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has spoken often about how the U.S. has lurched from a cycle of panic to neglect when it comes to public health. Many of us in the field had hoped that the COVID-19 pandemic would break that cycle — a sliver of silver lining amid all the grief.

We had hoped that policymakers and voters alike would understand how essential it is to upgrade our data infrastructure, stockpile essential medicine and equipment, invest in preventive care for vulnerable populations, restructure our emergency response agencies and support an infusion of public health workers at the local and state levels. Surely, COVID would be the spur needed to finally bump U.S. spending on public health to more than 3 cents on the health care dollar.

By declaring the pandemic over when we are still very much in the thick of the fight, President Biden is undercutting that message.

Let’s look at where we are right now. The U.S. is still reporting close to 60,000 cases and 400 deaths each day. Millions are struggling with long COVID; by some estimates, this often debilitating condition is keeping 4 million adults out of work. Those at work may have less flexibility: Major companies are ending work-from-home policies and Starbucks announced this week that it will no longer give employees paid time off to isolate or get vaccinated. Biden’s remarks will only accelerate that trend.

Meanwhile, only 67 percent of Americans are vaccinated and only half of them have been boosted. While many of the remaining have some immunity from infection, the death toll makes clear that large swaths of the population remain highly vulnerable. And of course, new variants continue to emerge; right now, all eyes are on BA.2.75.2, a mutation of the omicron variant that is notably better at evading antibodies acquired from vaccination or prior infection and is spreading rapidly in India.

Declaring the pandemic over at this stage is tantamount to accepting all this misery as background noise.

And if we accept the status quo as background noise — rather than the urgent and immediate threat it represents — it’s nearly impossible to make the case that we need to do more as a society to protect the vulnerable, respond to surges, or prepare for future crises.

The Biden administration has made significant strides on COVID. It made tests, vaccines and treatments widely available across the country, which improved outcomes and saved lives. The vast majority of Americans feel we’re in a better place than at this time last year and many have returned, at least in large part, to normal activities.

It is an appropriate moment for our leaders to turn the page away from our wartime footing and begin a sober discussion about the next steps: the risks that remain, the importance of responding quickly to local surges, the value of supporting the Global South in building their own vaccine infrastructure — and the critical need to rebuild the battered and woefully outdated public health infrastructure in the U.S.

It is not the moment to declare victory.

John M. Barry, author of “The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History” has a stark warning from history. He writes that the world had largely moved on from the 1918 influenza pandemic when a fourth wave struck in 1920. By then, the U.S. had plenty of natural immunity from prior infection. Still, the virus spread ruthlessly. Public officials failed to respond. They, like the public, wanted the pandemic to be over — so the virus rolled on unchecked. In some cities, the death toll in 1920 exceeded the toll of the huge second wave.

We should not make the same mistake now. With humility as our watchword, we can move to the next chapter without closing the book. That is the way forward.

Michelle A. Williams is dean of the faculty of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

[spooniestrong]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/who-charts-rapid-spread-of-new-jn1-covid-variant/ar-AA1lN6lZ

A sub-variant of the Omicron mutation of the Covid virus has been classified as a "variant of interest", by the World Health Organization, because of "its rapidly increasing spread".

JN.1 has been found in many countries around the world, including India, China and the United States.

[theculturedmarxist]

[...]

Cases aren't the only thing dropping either — so is surveillance of the virus. We're doing less testing and less sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 genetics.

Given all this, the question begs to be asked: Are we letting our guard down while waving the Mission Accomplished flag?

When asked if there is adequate surveillance for new variants happening, Dr. Margaret Harris, a spokesperson for the World Health Organization (WHO), flatly said no.

"Current trends in reported COVID-19 cases are underestimates of the true number of global infections and reinfections as shown by prevalence surveys," Harris told Salon in an email. "This is partly due to the reduction in testing and delays in reporting in many countries. Reduction in testing means a reduction in genetic sequencing, as you need to find the virus first in order to sequence it."

"We continually call on member states to maintain strong testing and sequencing in order to identify new variants but also to understand the level of SARS-CoV-2 transmission going on in their populations," Harris continued. "This virus remains unstable — it has not settled into a predictable pattern, which means surveillance systems need to be sensitive to pick up the early signs of another surge."

XBB.1.5, nicknamed by some as "Kraken," is thus far the dominant variant for most of 2023, with estimated cases of Kraken exceeding 70 percent since the week of Feb 11. It has far eclipsed the BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 variants. Meanwhile BA.2 and BA.5, the two variants that dominated case counts for most of 2022, have all but disappeared.

According to the latest CDC variant tracking data, the only other variants really circulating in the U.S. are XBB.1.5's offspring: XBB.1.9 and XBB.1.5.1. Meanwhile, XBB.1.16 is spreading rapidly in India and could eventually make its way to North America. Notably, XBB was first detected in Singapore before its offspring made the jump across the Pacific, though XBB.1.5 was first detected in the U.S. and likely originated in the Northeast.

All these names may sound like gobbledygook to most non-experts — and there is a reason it's so confusing. When variants of the virus mutated and evolved into new strains with significant advantages over old lineages, the WHO began giving these "variants of concern" names from the Greek alphabet. Hence, variants like delta and gamma made headlines when they emerged and began to spread — but the WHO has yet to assign any variants a new Greek name since omicron surged in late 2021. Instead, we have this alphabet soup of named variants, all of which are technically different sub-strains of omicron.

Even a minor variation in a virus' genetics can equate to a huge difference in how well immunity from vaccines and previous infections can stop them. If the virus evolves some kind of advantage — as viruses are prone to do and just as SARS-CoV-2 has done many times throughout the pandemic — another surge is not out of the question.

In mid-March, the WHO updated their definition of what makes COVID variants threatening and currently classifies XBB.1.5 as a "variant of interest," which means it is seen as less threatening than previous variants of concern.

Nonetheless, some virologists have argued that XBB and its close relatives are so genetically different from the very first strain of SARS-CoV-2 that it should technically be renamed a new virus, SARS-CoV-3.

"XBB.1.5 does show a growth advantage and a higher immune escape capacity, but evidence from multiple countries does not suggest that XBB and XBB.1.5 are associated with increased severity or mortality," Harris said. "In countries where the variant has driven an increase in cases, the waves are significantly smaller in scale compared to previous waves."

That's good news, but as the virus bounces between hemispheres, it may gain new mutations that allow it to infect more effectively or evade immunity. Some of our treatments, but not all, have stopped working against XBB strains. Monoclonal antibodies don't stop it, but antiviral drugs like Paxlovid and bivalent booster vaccines are still very effective.

But the combined lack of public interest in the pandemic, exemplified in victory marches from political leadership, has led to a shrinking pool of data on COVID as there is less funding afforded to tracking and research. As we've seen in previous surges, the situation can change without warning. The situation is made worse by wild animals that harbor COVID, a viral reservoir that could spill back to humanity if given the opportunity.

"The level of genomic surveillance has been dropping off, and there are also indications that funding for wastewater monitoring will be ending in some places," Dr. T. Ryan Gregory, an evolutionary and genome biologist at the University of Guelph in Canada, told Salon in an email. "We have far less information than we used to, which hampers the ability to detect and track new variants. It's also worth noting that India and China include about one-third of the world's population, and we have very little information on variants there."

While overall trends are down, many people would be especially vulnerable to a COVID infection right now, according to Dr. Rajendram Rajnarayanan, an assistant dean of research and associate professor at the New York Institute of Technology campus in Jonesboro, Arkansas.

"Very few of us have had the bivalent booster, so in terms of protection, we are kind of vulnerable," Rajnarayanan told Salon. He noted that COVID is still a serious, life-threatening disease for immunocompromised people and those over 70. Most people who got bivalent booster shots — if they did so at all — received the jab in the fall. By now, that immunity has likely waned and there hasn't been much communication about when or if a new booster will come out later this year. According to NPR, the Food and Drug Administration has said it will allow some people over the age of 65 to get a second bivalent booster, but it hasn't been officially announced yet.

So while infections are trending downward, immunity is as well. In the past, major gaps in immunity have been followed by major surges, such as with delta and omicron.

"When there is a big pause, and some new variant comes, we are not really protected. But when there are repeated waves, the previous wave usually protects the next wave." Rajnarayanan said. "Every time the variant goes down, something goes up later on. Just the gap between the two peaks has changed."

Despite the unpredictability of SARS-CoV-2, the strategy for fighting it hasn't changed. Masking in public, improving indoor ventilation, testing when appropriate, staying home when sick and keeping up with vaccines when possible are good strategies for keeping the virus at bay. But overall, it's not enough to say the emergency is over. We need to be strategic and keep a close eye on the evolution of COVID as well.

"People have changed, our approaches have changed, and we don't need any modern approaches to defeat this virus," Rajnarayanan said. "We know how to do this . . .  we have to do it collectively. That's all there is to it."

[noneofthisisreal]

“Itchy” conjunctivitis—or pinkeye—without pus, but with “sticky eyes”

[nuadox]

FAQ on COVID-19 subvariant XBB.1.5

- By Sameer Elsayed , Western University , The Conversation -

Despite intensive public health efforts to grind the COVID-19 pandemic to a halt, the recent emergence of the highly transmissible, extensively drug-resistant and profoundly immune system-evading XBB.1.5 SARS-CoV-2 subvariant is putting the global community on edge.

What is XBB.1.5?

In the naming convention for SARS-CoV-2 lineages, the prefix “X” denotes a pedigree that arose through genetic recombination between two or more subvariants.

The XBB lineage emerged following natural co-infection of a human host with two Omicron subvariants, namely BA.2.10.1 and BA.2.75. It was first identified by public health authorities in India during summer 2022. XBB.1.5 is a direct descendent, or more accurately, the “fifth grandchild” of the original XBB subvariant.

Genetic lineage of COVID-19 subvariant XBB.1.5. (Sameer Elsayed), Author provided

How does XBB.1.5 differ from Omicron?

XBB.1.5 is one of many Omicron subvariants of concern that have appeared on the global pandemic scene since the onset of the first Omicron wave in November 2021. In contrast to other descendants of the original Omicron variant (known as B.1.1.529), XBB.1.5 is a mosaic subvariant that traces its roots to two Omicron subvariant lineages.

XBB.1.5 is arguably the most genetically rich and most transmissible SARS-CoV-2 Omicron subvariant yet.

Where is XBB.1.5 prevalent?

According to the World Health Organization, XBB.1.5 is circulating in at least 38 countries, with the highest prevalence in the United States, where it accounts for approximately 43 per cent of COVID-19 cases nationwide. Within the U.S., there is wide geographic variation in the proportion of cases caused by XBB.1.5, ranging from seven per cent in the Midwest to over 70 per cent in New England.

XBB.1.5 has also been officially reported by governmental agencies in Australia, Canada, the European Union, Japan, Kuwait, Russia, Singapore, South Africa and the United Kingdom. Real-time surveillance data reveals that XBB.1.5 is rapidly spreading across the globe and will likely become the next dominant subvariant.

XBB.1.5 has also been detected in municipal wastewater systems in the United States, Europe and other places.

How likely is XBB.1.5 to cause serious illness?

There is limited data about the ability of XBB.1.5 to cause serious illness. According to the World Health Organization, XBB.1.5 does not have any specific mutations that make it any more dangerous than its ancestral subvariants.

Nonetheless, XBB.1.5 is perceived as being equally capable of causing serious illness in elderly and immunocompromised persons compared to previous Omicron subvariants of concern.

Are current mRNA vaccines effective against XBB.1.5?

XBB.1.5 and XBB.1 are the Omicron subvariants with the greatest immune-evasive properties. Therefore, one of the most contentious issues surrounding XBB.1.5 relates to the degree of protection afforded by currently available mRNA vaccines, including the latest bivalent booster formulations.

Researchers from the University of Texas determined that first-generation and bivalent mRNA booster vaccines containing BA.5 result in lacklustre neutralizing antibody responses against XBB.1.5. A report (yet to be peer reviewed) from investigators at the Cleveland Clinic found that bivalent vaccines demonstrate only modest (30 per cent) effectiveness in otherwise healthy non-elderly people when the variants in the vaccine match those circulating in the community.

Furthermore, some experts believe the administration of bivalent boosters for the prevention of COVID-19 illness in otherwise healthy young individuals is not medically justified nor cost-effective.

In contrast, public health experts from Atlanta, Ga. and Stanford, Calif. reported that although the neutralizing antibody activity of bivalent booster vaccines against XBB.1.5 is 12 to 26 times less than antibody activity against the wild-type (original) SARS-CoV-2 virus, bivalent vaccines still perform better than monovalent vaccines against XBB.1.5.

However, investigators from Columbia University in New York found that neutralizing antibody levels following bivalent boosting were up to 155–fold lower against XBB.1.5 compared to levels against the wild-type virus following monovalent boosting.

This suggests that neither monovalent nor bivalent booster vaccines can be relied upon to provide adequate protection against XBB.1.5.

How can you protect yourself against XBB.1.5?

The rapid evolution of SARS-CoV-2 continues to pose a challenge for the management of COVID-19 illness using available preventive and therapeutic agents. Of note, all currently available monoclonal antibodies targeting the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 are deemed to be ineffective against XBB.1.5.

Antiviral medicines such as remdesivir and Paxlovid may be considered for the treatment of eligible infected patients at high risk of progressing to severe disease.

Standard infection control precautions including indoor masking, social distancing and frequent handwashing are effective measures that can be employed for personal and population protection against XBB.1.5 and other subvariants of concern.

Although bivalent boosters may be considered for elderly, immunocompromised and other risk-averse individuals, their effectiveness in preventing COVID-19 illness due to XBB.1.5 remains uncertain.

Why is XBB.1.5 nicknamed ‘Kraken’?

Some scientists have coined unofficially-recognized nicknames for XBB.1.5 and other SARS-CoV-2 subvariants of concern, arguing that they are easier to remember than generic alphanumeric designations.

The ‘Kraken’ label for XBB.1.5 is currently in vogue on social media sites and news outlets, and the nicknames ‘Gryphon’ and ‘Hippogryph’ have been used to denote the ancestral subvariants XBB and XBB.1, respectively. Kraken refers to a mythological Scandinavian sea monster or giant squid, Gryphon (or Griffin) refers to a legendary creature that is a hybrid of an eagle and a lion, while Hippogryph (or Hippogriff) is a fictitious animal hybrid of a Gryphon and a horse.

Notwithstanding their potential utility as memory aids, the use of nicknames or acronyms in formal scientific discussions should be avoided.

Sameer Elsayed, Professor of Medicine, Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, and Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Western University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

--

Read Also

Study: 30% of COVID patients develop ‘long COVID’

[oliviajames1122]

The global economy faces a grim outlook

World Bank warns global economy faces a grim outlook

The global economy faces a "grim outlook", World Bank President David Malpass has warned, as the aftershocks of the pandemic continue to weigh on growth - especially in poor countries.

His organization's latest forecast predicts global growth will slow to 4.1% this year from 5.5% in 2021.

It attributed the slowdown to virus threats, government aid unwinding, and an initial rebound in demand fading.

But Mr Malpass said his greatest worry was widening global inequality.

"The big drag is the inequality that's built into the system," he told the BBC, noting that poorer countries were especially vulnerable to economic damage from efforts to fight inflation.

"The outlook for the weaker countries is still to fall further and further behind. That causes insecurity."

Separately, the World Economic Forum (WEF) warned that divergent economic recoveries were making it harder to collaborate on global challenges such as climate change.

"Widening disparities within and between countries will not only make it more difficult to control Covid-19 and its variants but will also risk stalling, if not reversing, joint action against shared threats that the world cannot afford to overlook," the WEF said in its annual global risks report on Tuesday many business listings.

· Business Review of 2021: Climate change and Covid

·Hundreds of unions issue vaccine supply chain plea

The World Bank's Global Economic Prospects report said that in 2021 the world's economy bounced back from the pandemic with the strongest post-recession expansion in 80 years.

But the gains are expected to slow this year, as virus variants and rapidly rising prices for items such as food and energy weigh on households. Globally, inflation is at its highest rate since 2008, the report says.

The bank, which lends to countries around the world, also warned that supply chain bottlenecks and the unwinding of stimulus programs posed risks.

The slowdown in the second half of 2021 was already larger than the Bank had expected in its June forecast due to the spread of the Omicron and Delta Covid variants. It expects a "pronounced slowdown" this year, and predicts global growth will decelerate further in 2023, to 3.2%.

"The reality is that Covid and the shutdowns are still taking a huge toll and that's especially true on people in poorer countries," Mr Malpass said.

David Malpass warned rate rises could hit growth in weaker economies

Driving the global slowdown in China, where the rate of growth is expected to drop to 5.1% from 8% last year, and the US, which is forecast to expand by 3.7% this year compared with 5.6% in 2021. In the eurozone, the expansion will slow to 4.2% this year from 5.2%, the bank predicts business listings.

India presents a bright spot, with the growth rate expected to rise from 8.3% to 8.7% this year.

But many emerging markets continue to struggle with additional challenges, such as lower vaccination rates.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, for instance, growth is expected to slow to 2.6% in 2022, from 6.7% last year.

By 2023, economic activity in all advanced economies, such as the US, Euro area and Japan, is likely to have recovered from the hit it took during the pandemic, the bank said.

But output in developing and emerging countries is expected to remain 4% lower than it was before Covid struck.

Mr Malpass blamed stimulus programs in the richest countries for worsening the divide by driving global inflation. While officials in many countries, including the US, are now expected to raise interest rates to try to rein in price increases, Mr Malpass warned higher borrowing costs could hurt economic activity - especially in weaker economies.

"The problem with rate hikes is it hurts people that need floating rate money... and that's usually new businesses, women-owned businesses, developing country businesses," Mr Malpass said.

He said he would prefer to see central banks focus on unwinding pandemic-era stimulus programs, which buy assets such as mortgage-backed securities.

"That helps people at the upper end of the income curve, but doesn't do much at all for people in lower incomes or in developing countries," he said free business listings.

"An improvement, I think, would be if they bought less of that kind of asset and allowed the stimulus to taper in a way that would be beneficial for people more in the middle incomes, in the lower incomes, and in developing countries."

More on this story

·Business Review of 2021: Climate change and Covid

·Hundreds of unions issue vaccine supply chain plea

[gendronrecherche]

KP.2 COVID Variant Now Dominant in India

The KP.2 COVID variant, an Omicron subvariant with increased transmissibility, has overtaken other strains in India. http://dlvr.it/TBT2pm

[toneophealth]

COVID-19 Variants Overview: Is JN 1 the Most Dangerous? Full List Till 2023

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous iterations of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the causative agent behind the illness, have surfaced. Notable among these are variants such as Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron. Global scientific endeavors have remained vigilant in tracking the evolutionary shifts within the COVID-19 virus. Their investigations stand crucial in comprehending whether specific strains of COVID-19 exhibit heightened transmissibility, potential health implications, and the efficacy of existing vaccines against them.

Over the span of the past three years, the World Health Organization has cataloged nine variants as actively circulating. While over 50 variants have been documented, some have ceased their spread.

Now, attention is drawn to the emergence of the new sub-variant of COVID-19, JN 1. Concerns arise: should this new iteration prompt worry? And if so, what level of threat does it pose? The sudden surge of the JN 1 COVID-19 sub-variant in India and across regions has instilled widespread apprehension. Delve into this comprehensive guide to acquire essential insights regarding JN 1 and the spectrum of COVID variants.

Read More:

[nepalniceties]

WHO flags Omicron Sub-Variant JN.1 as "Variant of Interest" due to rapid spread

The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified a sub-variant of the Omicron strain, named JN.1, as a “variant of interest” owing to its swift and widespread transmission. JN.1 has surfaced in numerous countries globally, including India, China, the UK, and the United States. Despite its escalating spread, the WHO reassures the public that the risk remains low, and existing vaccines continue…

[werindialive]

21 cases of Covid-19 subvariant JN. 1 detected in India, authorities on high alert

With the fresh cases of coronavirus subvariant JN.1 emerging in India, Indian authorities have been on high alert. The subvariant JN. 1 is being investigated by the scientific community as the authorities work on curbing its spread already. As per NITI Aayog member (health) Dr V K Paul, as of now, 21 cases of COVID-19 JN.1 sub-variant have been detected in the country. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is focused on the genome sequencing of the variant.

Out of the 21 cases, 19 cases have been detected in Goa while Kerala and Maharashtra have recorded one each.

First found in late 2023, the JN.1 (BA.2.86.1.1) variant of COVID-19 is a descendant of the BA.2.86 lineage (Pirola) of SARS-CoV-2. The BA.2.86 lineage (Pirola) first emerged in August 2023 and showed more than 30 mutations in the spike (5) protein unlike the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron XBB lineages. The mutations make the variant highly risky with a high potential for immune evasion.

The JN.1 subvariant has been classified as a variant of interest by the World Health Organization.

Head of Pulmonary Medicine at Safdarjung Hospital, Dr. Rohit Kumar said, “COVID is an RNA virus that changes its form from time to time, and new variants of it emerge. And now a new variant has emerged, which has been named JN.1. However, not a single case has come to light in the capital, Delhi yet.”

"We are on alert, keeping an eye on the Corona cases. Testing of patients is also being done, and the patients who are coming positive are also being sent for genome sequencing. So that new variants can also be detected, but till now no case of new variants has been reported in Delhi," Dr Kumar said.

"If there is a sore throat, cough, cold, chest pain, or difficulty breathing, consult the doctor immediately. Especially those already suffering from respiratory diseases and asthma patients need to take special care. The doctor mentioned that during this season, individuals with serious diseases should be more careful, as those dying due to Covid often have pre-existing serious conditions such as heart disease and diabetes," he added.

For more COVID-19 news India in Hindi, subscribe to our newsletter.

[hardynwa]

WHO warns as new JN.1 Covid variant continues global spread

A sub-variant of the Omicron strain of coronavirus has been classified as a "variant of interest" by the World Health Organization, because of "its rapidly increasing spread". JN.1 has been found in many countries around the world, including India, China, UK and the United States. The risk to the public is currently low and current vaccines continue to offer protection, the WHO says. But it warns Covid and other infections could rise this winter. Respiratory viruses such as flu, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and childhood pneumonia are also on the rise in the northern hemisphere. The virus which causes Covid is constantly changing over time and sometimes this leads to new variants developing. Omicron has been the globally dominant variant for some time. The World Health Organization (WHO) is currently tracking a number of variants of interest linked to Omicron - including JN.1 - although none of them are deemed to be concerning. But JN.1 is spreading quickly in many corners of the world. It is currently the fastest-growing variant in the United States, according to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, accounting for 15-29% of infections. The UK Health Security Agency says JN.1 currently makes up around 7% of positive Covid tests analysed in a lab. It said it would continue to monitor all available data on this and other variants. Read the full article