Bengaluru: Worried by a COVID surge across the border in Kerala, Karnataka sounded the alarm for its most vulnerable citizens. Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao urged both senior citizens and those with health conditions to mask up as a precautionary measure. The state, he assured, is keeping a close eye on Kerala’s situation and is fully prepared to tackle any potential spillover.
“We will issue a detailed advisory soon and discuss the same in a meeting. People over 60 years old in the state with co-morbidities wear masks as a precautionary measure. The state government has ordered all hospitals in the districts surrounding Kerala to be alert and equipped. We will also increase the number of tastings that are being conducted, the minister was quoted saying as per the report by the Hindustan Times.
India’s COVID-19 Situation Remains Under Control
India’s COVID-19 situation remains under control, with an active caseload of 1,828 as of Monday. However, one death was reported in Kerala, where the JN.1 subvariant of the coronavirus was recently detected.
Dr NK Arora, the chief of INSACOG, a network of genomic laboratories that tracks genomic variants of the virus, said that the death was not caused by the subvariant alone but by multiple underlying health conditions.
“The deceased had severe comorbidities like heart, lung, and kidney diseases. The primary cause of death was attributed to these conditions, not solely to the JN.1 subvariant,” said Indian SARS-COV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) Chief Dr NK Arora.
On genome sequencing in other states, he said, “No cause for panic (over JN.1 subvariant). The number of samples is less but these are being collected from all the states.” Dr Arora emphasised that “INSACOG is closely monitoring the situation, studying the epidemiology and clinical behaviour of the virus.”
Earlier on Saturday, Dr Rajiv Bahl, Director General (DG) of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), stated in a statement issued by the Union Health Ministry that “a case of JN.1 subvariant of COVID-19 has been detected in Kerala as part of the ongoing routine surveillance activity by INSACOG.”
“The case was detected in an RT-PCR positive sample from Karakulam, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, on December 8, 2023. The sample was tested RT-PCR-positive on November 18, 2023.
The patient had mild symptoms of influenza-like illness (ILI) and has since recovered from COVID-19,” he said. The Union Ministry of Health is in regular touch with the State Department of Health, Kerala and monitors various points of entry. Earlier on Saturday, news agency ANI reported first about the Covid-19 subvariant JN.1 detected in Kerala, which is a descendant of BA.2.86.
With inputs from agencies)
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