COVID-19 has appeared on the radar again, nearly a year and a half after the world relaxed and watched the progress of the virus from a distance. The identification of a sub variant - JN.1 - has sparked fresh interest in the epidemiological world, and has sounded the need for caution. The World Health Organisation, has decided, due to its rapid spread, to classify the variant JN.1 as a separate variant of interest (VOI) from the parent lineage BA.2.86. It was previously classified as VOI as part of BA.2.86 sublineages.
As per WHO’s updated definition of a VOI, it would be a SARS-CoV-2 variant with genetic changes that are predicted or known to affect virus characteristics such as transmissibility, virulence, antibody evasion, susceptibility to therapeutics and detectability. It has also been identified to have a growth advantage over other circulating variants in more than one WHO region with increasing relative prevalence alongside increasing number of cases over time, or other apparent epidemiological impacts to suggest an emerging risk to global public health.
The WHO also says that based on currently available evidence, the additional global public health risk posed by JN.1 is currently evaluated as low. Despite this, with the onset of winter in the Northern Hemisphere, JN.1 could increase the burden of respiratory infections in many countries. Nations would do well to prepare ahead for a possible cascade of respiratory infections, and treat them effectively, preventing severe disease and death.
