Delhi reports first case of Covid sub-variant JN.1: Min Bharadwaj

Delhi has reported its first case of COVID-19 sub-variant JN.1, Health minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said on Wednesday, while urging people not to panic.

According to an official, three samples were sent for genome sequencing, and one of them tested positive for the JN.1 variant while the remaining two were Omicron.

While confirming the first case of the JN.1 variant, Bharadwaj said, “JN.1 is a sub-variant of Omicron and is mild infection. This is the one spreading in south India. There is no need to panic. It causes mild sickness.”

Delhi has around 35 active cases with nine fresh infections being reported on Wednesday, the official said, while adding that a 28-year-old man, who had comorbidities, died, with Covid not being the primary reason.

“The man was not from Delhi and was referred to a private hospital recently. He had multiple comorbidities and the Covid finding was incidental. The sample of the man has been sent for genome sequencing and a report is awaited,” the official said.

The official said that the deceased was suffering from multi-system inflammatory syndrome and was “highly comorbid”. “The Covid finding was incidental and mostly it has been seen that patients are referred to Delhi when they are in the last stage of a disease,” he added. Forty more cases of the COVID-19 sub-variant JN.1 were recorded, with

the tally of cases of the new variant across the country till December 26 rising to 109, official sources said earlier on Wednesday.