Maharashtra reports 86 cases of Covid, no new JN.1 variant infected patient

Maharashtra reported 86 COVID-19 cases and 154 people were discharged on Saturday after recovery from the disease, state's Public Health Department said.

No new JN.1 variant infected patient was detected on Saturday. The recovery rate in the state is 98.17 per cent, while the case fatality rate is 1.81 per cent. A total 12,917 tests were conducted in the state on Saturday.

Till Saturday, 250 patients were infected with the JN.1 variant in the state. Since January 1, 143 COVID-19 deaths have been recorded in the state.

The release said that 71.33 per cent of these deaths have occurred in individuals above 60 years of age, 85 per cent of the deceased had comorbidities, and 15 per cent did not have any comorbidity.

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 emphasized that the overall risk posed by JN.1 remains low based on current evidence.

Both the central and state governments are keeping a close watch on the new Omicron sub-variant JN.1.Several countries, including China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore, have reported upticks in new coronavirus cases. The JN.1 strain, first detected in September in the United States, is a descendant of BA.2.86, a highly mutated variant of the Omicron strain of COVID-19.

The COVID-19 sub-variant JN.1 has spread to 16 states, with a total of 971 cases of the infection reported as of January 11, official sources said.