Maharashtra reports 28 fresh COVID-19 cases, including 10 cases of JN.1 variant

According to the Public Health Department of Maharashtra, 80,23,431 COVID-19 patients have been discharged after full recovery, of which 13 were discharged on Monday. The recovery rate in the state is 98.18 per cent while the case fatality rate in the state is 1.81 per cent.

Out of 8,75,66,255 laboratory samples, 81,72,163 have been tested positive (9.33 per cent) forCOVID-19 until today. On Monday, the state conducted 1162 tests of COVID out of those 590 RT-PCR tests and 572 RAT tests.

At present, the dominant variant of COVID is Omicron XBB.1.16. A total of 1972 cases were found to be infected with this variant. There were 19 deaths reported among the cases of this variant.

Since January 1, 2023, 134 COVID-19 deaths have been recorded in Maharashtra. 70.90 per cent of these deaths have occurred in individuals over 60 years of age, 84 per cent of the deceased had comorbidities, while 16 per cent did not have any comorbidities.

A total of 63 cases of COVID-19 sub-variant JN.1 have been detected in the country till Sunday, with Goa reporting the highest number of cases, Health Ministry sources said on Monday.

However, there has been no clustering of cases reported so far and all the cases of the JN.1 subvariant have mild symptoms, they added.

Meanwhile, the total number of active cases of COVID-19 in the country stands at 4,054, with the highest number of cases coming from Kerala.

Former World Health Organisation (WHO) chief scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan has said that there is no need to panic as JN.1 is a variant of interest and not of concern.

She urged people to be cautious by taking proper precautionary measures.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently classified JN.1 as a variant of interest, distinct from its parent lineage BA.2.86. However, the global health body emphasised that the overall risk posed by JN.1 remains low based on current evidence. (ANI)