Be alert, no need to panic: AIIMS on surge in cases of Covid subvariant JN.1

PTC News Desk: Following an increase in cases of the new COVID subvariant JN.1, doctors from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) have advised people to remain alert and vigilant rather than panic.

"In many states across the country, people are becoming infected with the new sub-variant of COVID-JN.1. The patients' symptoms are minor. As a result, there is no need to panic, but rather to remain alert," said doctor Neeraj Nischal.

"We have been saying this type of ripple will continue to happen," said Doctor Nischal, an Additional Professor in the Department of Medicine at AIIMS Delhi. "Even during the first and second waves, we predicted that the virus would mutate further and reach a point where it would be more infectious while causing less mortality or morbidity."

"So this is, you can say, a fight between the viruses in human beings who are also trying to survive. People are becoming infected but at the same time, it's not causing the problem that its predecessors, like the delta variant, caused."

"The important thing is that we are more aware of this virus and that we know how to deal with it. So if you see cases increasing, that shows that our surveillance system is in place, and we can pick up any new surge or any new variant that is coming into our society. So this should not be a cause for panic. This only shows how well we are prepared now and I think we should be able to handle this in a good way," the doctor further added.

"From the data that is emerging, the new subvariant is not very different from omicron," Doctor Neeraj Nischal added. "We're investigating whether the virus is causing symptoms like coughing, cold, sneezing, fever, and body aches."

The doctor also stated that a team of health specialists is investigating whether the subvariant is causing serious lung damage, oxygen requirements, or hospitalisation.

"There are pockets of the country where we are seeing cases, but that cannot be generalised for the entire country. So it's all good. We have a good surveillance system in place, and we can keep this disease under control, which is the most important thing," the doctor added.

"I will not say that we are seeing an increased number of COVID cases in our OPD it's not like that. We do witness a lot of common cold and flu patients this season. So this is a generalised type of respiratory infection that happens during the winter so there is nothing new that we are witnessing at the moment."

"I won't be saying that we are witnessing an increased number of cases or something serious about patients. No, it's the routine cases that we see every winter. That's what we are witnessing now."

- WITH INPUTS FROM ANI