Health experts advise patients with comorbidities to remain isolated as COVID-19 JN.1 variant sees spike

Dr. Sudhir Bhandari said "Once the genome sequencing result is not, then we can make out that this variant belongs to which lineage of the omicron."

He however, advised senior citizens and patients with comorbidities to be a little extra cautious.

"This variant is not very critical, symptoms are mild to moderate but senior citizens and patients with comorbidities may face critical conditions and hence we advise them to remain isolated," Dr Bhandari informed.

Due to the surge in the COVID-19 cases in the country, Union Health minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Wednesday held a high-level review meeting on preparedness for respiratory illnesses and the COVID-19 upsurge. The centre has directed the states to monitor the occurrence of the respiratory diseases district-wise.

As the Union Health Ministry has sounded a new alert for COVID-19, preparations to fight against the disease have been started in Jammu.

In Shri Maharaja Gulab Singh Hospital, one of the major hospitals in the region, a COVID ward has been set up.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said that the city government is reviewing the COVID preparedness of the public health infrastructure in the national capital.

"We have to be cautious but not create panic," Saurabh Bharadwaj told ANI reacting to the reports of a new COVID variant detected in the country.

"We held meetings with virologists, pulmonologists and community health experts in Delhi two weeks back. We had told them to increase genome sequencing so that if the variant is detected in Delhi, we become alert. We are also reviewing our COVID preparedness, " he added.

Notably, three deaths were reported in Kerala, two in Karnataka, one in Punjab and six in West Bengal, as per the official website of the Ministry of Health, Government of India. The number of active cases in the country is 2669. (ANI)