Over a fortnight after the first JN.1 case was detected in Kerala on December 8, as many as 34 cases, including three patients who died in the last week, have been found to be infected with the new sub-variant of Omicron. Bengaluru accounts for 20 of the cases.
Following genome sequencing of 192 samples at the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, and NCBS in Bengaluru, the presence of the new variant has been confirmed in 34 cases. Of the samples tested, results of 60 samples are available as of date. “Results of the remaining are likely by Wednesday (Dec. 27),” Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao said.
The samples of the three COVID-19 patients who died between December 15 and December 17 — male patients aged 76, 64, and 44 years — from Bengaluru and Ramanagaram were found to be positive for JN.1. They also had several other comorbidities.
