WHO classifies new Covid strain JN.1 as 'variant of interest', says it could increase burden of...

Days after a new Covid-19 variant was detected in several countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) has classified the JN.1 strain as a 'variant of interest'. However, it said that the new variant did not pose much threat to public health. JN.1 was previously classified as a variant of interest as a part of its parent lineage BA.2.86.

"Due to its rapidly increasing spread, WHO is classifying 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," WHO tweeted on Tuesday.

The global health body further said that based on the 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.

WHO said that current vaccines continue to protect against severe disease and death from JN.1 and other circulating variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Meanwhile, India's first JN.1 case was detected in a sample taken from a 79-year-old woman in Kerala with mild symptoms on December 8. Earlier, a traveller from Tamil Nadu's Tiruchirapalli district was found to be infected with the JN.1 variant in Singapore.

NEWCOVID19 variant of interest JN.1

Due to its rapidly increasing spread, WHO is classifying 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.

Based on the available… pic.twitter.com/lvyd3sq1f7

— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) December 19, 2023