In the highest single-day rise In Covid cases, India on Sunday recorded 841 fresh cases of the noble virus, the health ministry's daily bulletin informed. The active cases number of cases has gone up to 4,309 cases.
Three new fatalities due to Covid-- one each from Kerala, Karnataka and Bihar -- have been reported in a span of 24 hours, according to the ministry's data updated at 8 am. India had recorded 865 new cases on May 19.
The number of daily cases had dropped to double-digits till December 5, but cases have again gone up after emergence of a new variant and cold weather conditions. The daily numbers were in lakhs at the peak of the pandemic, which began in early 2020 and has seen more than 4.5 crore people getting infected and over 5.3 lakh deaths in about four years since then across the country.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease stands at over 4.4 crore with a national recovery rate of 98.81 per cent, according to the ministry's website. According to the website, 220.67 crore doses of Covid vaccines have so far been administered in the country.
Just a day earlier, Kerala reported the highest number of JN.1 variant cases. The state reported 41 cases of the JN.1 subvariant, the majority of which were home-isolated, official sources said. Ahead of the New Year, both the central and state governments are keeping a close watch on the new Omicron Subvariant JN.1.
JN.1 is a Variant of Interest (VOI) which is under intense scientific scrutiny. The World Health Organisation (WHO) reported more than 7,000 cases of COVID-19 JN.1 subvariant from 41 countries.
The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi has issued guidelines for COVID-19 suspected or positive cases that will be reported at hospitals following the sudden surge in the cases of Coronavirus in the country. The JN.1 sub-variant is a descendant of the Omicron subvariant known as BA.2.86 or Pirola. The first case of the JN.1 variant of COVID-19 was reported in Kerala. A total of 109 cases of the JN.1 sub-variant have been detected in India until Wednesday, as per Health Ministry sources.
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More than 190,000 people, comprising tourists, students and workers, crossed the border between Hong Kong and mainland China on February 6.
The requirement of having travellers declare their health status when crossing the border was later dropped in November, except for those experiencing symptoms.
190,000 cross Hong Kong-mainland border on first day of full reopening
The policy change was also seen as beneficial to the economy because it symbolised the citys efforts to return to a state of normality. Health chief Lo Chung-mau said at the time that people could show their smiles and say Hello Hong Kong, a reference to the name of the governments global campaign back then to attract visitors to the city post pandemic.
Secondary schools in Hong Kong were no longer required to conduct daily rapid antigen tests (RAT) for the coronavirus from March 1. The same relaxation was later applied to other pupils in mid-March. Students, staff and visitors were also not required to measure their temperature before going to school.
Daily RAT tests for students at all levels were introduced in April 2022 when half-day face-to-face classes resumed.
March also marked the scrapping of RAT for visitors and clinical staff at public hospitals and visitors and residents at care homes.
Hong Kong to end daily RAT tests for all pupils from Thursday
In 2023, 22 paediatric cases of severe influenza-associated complications were recorded, along with five deaths. In October, it was reported that 232 severe adult cases were recorded since the start of the summer flu season in August, with 141 deaths to date.
The Centre for Health Protection warned that after the Covid-19 pandemic receded, a phenomenon called immunity gap had emerged around the world in which social-distancing measures caused immunity against other viruses to have weakened. That has led to outbreaks of respiratory illnesses.
The Hospital Authority in December announced that it had allocated over HK$890 million (US$114 million) to all public hospitals to prepare for the winter flu season between the end of 2023 and next May.
Although the Covid-19 pandemic had subsided, Hong Kong did not cease efforts in providing vaccines to residents.
The first batch of 100,000 doses of the mRNA vaccine targeting the Covid-19 variant XBB manufactured by BioNTech and Pfizer arrived in Hong Kong in late November, with people aged 65 or older being eligible from December.
Another batch of about 100,000 doses of the same type of vaccine produced by Moderna, would also arrive in the city soon, the government added without giving a date.
Hong Kong receives first batch of Covid XBB variant vaccines
Professor Yuen Kwok-yung from the University of Hong Kong (HKU) and fellow scientists from other top mainland and overseas institutions such as top respiratory disease expert Professor Zhong Nanshan and renowned virologist Professor David Ho of Columbia University launched the Pandemic Research Alliance in December for joint research on novel viruses and to help prepare for the next pandemic.
Top scientists, including Hong Kong scholar, vow to prepare for next pandemic
The alliances membership also included scientists from the University of Melbournes Doherty Institute in Australia, Singapores Duke-NUS Medical School, Guangzhou National Laboratory and Tsinghua University on the mainland.
With travel resuming, monkeypox (mpox) cases continued to rise in Hong Kong this year after the first case was discovered in the city in September 2022. Fifty-four confirmed mpox cases have been recorded in Hong Kong as of November.
More than 14,800 doses had been administered under the governments mpox vaccination programme which began in October 2022.
Hong Kongs mental health situation came under the spotlight in 2023. In June, the governments Advisory Committee on Mental Health proposed 10 measures to improve the citys public mental health services in the wake of a tragedy where two women were stabbed to death at a shopping centre by a man said to have schizophrenia.
Hong Kong urged to set up high-level body to coordinate mental health policies
A rise in suicides among primary and secondary school pupils has also triggered concerns over the mental health of the citys younger generation. At least 31 students took their own lives in the first 11 months this year, compared with 25 in 2022, 25 in 2021 and 21 in 2020.
A citywide study released in December found nearly one in four Hong Kong children and adolescents suffered from at least one mental disorder in the past year and more than 8 per cent of secondary school students had thought about suicide.
It was believed that some people made the withdrawals because the government said they were exploring the setting up of a standing organ transplant mutual assistance mechanism with the mainland after the December transplant.
But more than half of all attempted withdrawals were found to be invalid as the applicants had not registered in the first place or repeatedly made requests to leave the scheme.
Under law amendments proposed by health authorities in May, patients suffering from terminal illnesses may be granted more legal power to stop receiving medical treatment if they wish.
Their decision not to receive resuscitation or other life-sustaining medical treatments at the final stage should also be respected by paramedics outside hospital settings, according to the proposal.
Hong Kong to give terminally ill patients more say over where and how they die
The government in November also proposed allowing Hongkongers to give legal instructions electronically to reject certain medications in end-of-life treatment, in addition to the current practice in paper format.
India has seen an uptick in Covid-19 cases over the last three weeks, with 743 new cases recorded on Saturday. At least seven deaths with Covid-19 were also reported, taking the toll this week to 25, according to government data.
While 600 to 700 cases of the infection are still being recorded, the number of active cases the number of people who currently have the infection went down to 3,997 on Saturday from 4,091 recorded the previous day.
The increase in the number of cases also coincides with an increase in the number of JN.1 cases. At least 162 cases of the new variant JN.1 have been detected in India so far, with the highest 83 sequences coming from Kerala, according to Indias genome sequencing consortium INSACOG.
Kerala has been reporting the highest number of cases, accounting for 377 of the 792 new cases reported in the country on Friday. After Kerala, the highest number of JN.1 sequences has been reported by Gujarat (34), Goa (18), Karnataka (8), Maharashtra (7), Rajasthan (5), Tamil Nadu (4), Telangana (2), and Delhi (1).
Though more cases are being reported, doctors say that the risk of severe disease remains low.
JN.1 is a descendant of the Omicron variant. And, Omicron variant is known to cause upper respiratory symptoms such as cough and sore throat in most cases. This is what has been seen from other places that are witnessing a surge due to JN.1 as well, said Dr G C Khilnani, chairman of Delhis PSRI Institute of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine. There could be severe manifestations in the old and those living with several comorbidities, he said.
The World Health Organization (WHO) in its risk evaluation of JN.1 says that it is low as of now.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that JN.1 is likely to account for 39 per cent to 50 per cent of all Sars-CoV-2 variants but it was too soon to say whether it would lead to increased hospitalisation. Its statement said: JN.1s continued growth suggests that the variant is either more transmissible or better at evading our immune systems than other circulating variants. It is too early to know whether or to what extent JN.1 will cause an increase in infections or hospitalizations.
In Singapore, where JN.1 accounts for a majority of the cases, an increase in hospitalisation and ICU admission has been seen over the last three weeks or so.
The Indian Express had previously reported that laboratories from states such as Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Assam and Meghalaya stopped sending in samples in June and July. The single laboratories in Punjab and Chennai stopped sending samples in April and March, respectively. The laboratory in Bihar stopped sending samples last October.
Not all states have a laboratory and some of the bigger laboratories also process samples from neighbouring states. In fact, the last batch of samples from Delhi was sent for genomic sequencing in July, despite at least one of the labs in the capital being a hub that receives samples from other states.
With several countries across the world reporting an increase in cases of JN.1, the WHO last week designated it as a variant of interest, separate from its ancestor BA.2.86 which is commonly referred to as Pirola. While it has only one additional mutation on the spike protein as compared to its ancestor, there has been an increase in its prevalence as compared to other variants in circulation.
12:41 (IST), Dec 30
India reports 743 new Covid cases, seven deaths
India recorded 743 fresh cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours. The total active caseload increased by seven, reaching 3,997, according to the Union Health Ministry.
As per official data, seven deaths have been reported in the country in the last 24 hours - three in Kerala two in Karnataka, and one each in Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu.
With this, the total count of coronavirus cases in India since its outbreak in January 2020 has reached 4,50,12,484 with an increase of 743 cases in the last 24 hours. The death toll due to COVID-19 cases in India has risen to, 5,33,358 reflecting an increase of seven deaths in the last 24 hours.
After a pleasant lull of over a year during which Covid-19 was not making headlines, the virus is back in the news. On December 19, 2023, the World Health Organisation classified the JN.1 variant, a descendent of the BA.2.86 Omicron lineage, as a variant of interest. This was done because this strain of SARS-Co-V-2 is spreading rapidly, leading to an uptick in cases globally, including in India. However, the WHO has said that with the available evidence, the additional public health risk posed by JN.1 is currently evaluated as low at the global level
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Many parts of India have seen a rise in Covid-19 cases as well, with current active cases at over 4,000. Fatalities too, have risen marginally. While the Union Health Ministry has asked the State government to stay alert and prepare for a surge, government authorities and doctors have said that while residents must remain vigilant and take precautions, there is no need to panic.
Also read: As JN.1 emerges as variant of interest, time to evaluate preparedness and effective testing and treatments
What causes the coronavirus to mutate, and how is its spike protein involved? The spike (S) protein is one of the key biological characteristics of Sars-CoV-2. This protein allows the virus to penetrate into the cells of its host (human beings) and cause the infection. This means that without the S protein, the virus would not be able to infect human beings, and so, this is a protein that is of interest to scientists making vaccines and anti-viral drugs.
In its initial risk evaluation, the WHO said that previously, JN.1 was tracked as part of BA.2.86, the parent lineage that is classified as a variant of interest. The earliest sample of JN.1 was collected on August 25, 2023. In comparison with the parent lineage BA.2.86, JN.1 has the additional L455S mutation in the spike protein.
A paper published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases said that theL455S mutation may slightly reduce JN.1s ability to bind to human cells, but may have increased this sub-variants immune evasion properties.
The challenge has always been making effective drugs and vaccines when the virus is constantly mutating, points out Deepak Sehgal, professor, department of life sciences, Shiv Nadar Institute of Eminence, Delhi. Prof Sehgal, along with his student Aditya Trivedi and others, recently published a paper in the FEBS Journal on their research about an inhibitor that can bind to the viral proteins of the coronavirus in order to prevent its replication. This, he said, could eventually help the development of drugs to treat Covid-19.
In Focus podcast | What we know about the new Covid variant JN.1
Will the current Covid-19 vaccines work? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in an update issued earlier this month, said there was no indication of increased severity from JN.1 at this time. Existing vaccines, tests, and treatments still work well against JN.1, the bulletin stated.
The Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII), has said it will be aiming to obtain licensure for XBB1 COVID variant vaccine which is very similar to the JN.1 variant for use in India, as reported by The Hindu previously.
Do we need booster shots of vaccines? Subramanian Swaminathan, vice president, Clinical Infectious Diseases Society, India, says that given that the JN.1 strain seems to have significant immune evasion, another dose of the same vaccine may not provide added protection. A majority of people in India have hybrid immunity. Since we cannot give people a new vaccine immediately, and since this surge in cases is likely to conclude by the end of January, the benefits of a booster of the same, previous shot, are low. Those who are immuno-compromised however, could consider a booster shot, he says, adding that there are now multiple treatment options for patients, provided the infection is picked up early.
A booster shot could help protect vulnerable populations, Prof Sehgal adds. Masks, hand-washing and avoiding crowded places must continue, especially for senior citizens and those with co-morbidities, he emphasises.
Covid is here to stay. We need to learn how to take precautions and live with it, says Prof Sehgal.
(zubeda.h@gmail.com)
A new variant of covid has created havoc across the world. JN.1 variant has also made its way to India and many have been affected by the virus. More than 100 cases of the new covid variant have been detected in many states including Kerala and Delhi.
Is the new variant a cause for alarm and what is the best way to not transmit it? We at Editorji spoke to Dr Venkat Ramesh, Infectious Disease Physician, regarding its characteristics and transmissibility. The doctor also revealed if the virus is a cause to panic.
Dr Venkat Ramesh revealed that there is no need to worry and precautions is the best way to ensure you stay safe. He told us, "As of now, there is really no need to be panicked or alarmed, we need to be cautious and vigilant. But certainly do not need to panic. The month of January will give us some clarity in terms of which direction we are headed. As infectious disease physicians, we have not seen an increase in the number of cases due to covid in our hospitals in case of patients being admitted with covid."
He further added, Another thing I would like to emphasise is that the three doses of vaccine may not provide gove great protection against infection with this new variant but it will definitely protect against serious infection, severe disease, ICU admission, and death. So will past infections also. So in that sense, as a country and society we are well protected."
Also watch: Covid-19 JN.1 variant: Do you need booster shots to fight surge? Expert weighs in
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Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an Infectious Disease Specialist at UC San Francisco, on the holidays spiking COVID cases, while explaining the new variant JN.1 that is now on a surge. (12-28-23)
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India on Friday reported 4,091 active Covid cases and five deaths. According to the data by the Union Health Ministry, Kerala accounts for the maximum number of Covid-19 cases at 2,522 followed by Karnataka at 568, Maharashtra at 369, Tamil Nadu at 156, etc.
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Two people have died due to Covid-19 in Kerala while in Maharashtra, Puducherry, and Tamil Nadu one each has died as per health ministry data.
The number of daily cases had dropped to double-digits by December 5, but the cases have again gone up after the emergence of a new variant and cold weather conditions.
Covid update: 109 JN.1 cases in India to K'taka's home isolation. 10 points
The daily numbers were in lakhs at the peak of the pandemic, which began in early 2020 and has seen more than 4.5 crore people getting infected and over 5.3 lakh deaths in about four years since then across the country.
Covid, epilepsy and UTI drugs supplied to Delhi hospitals fail quality tests
The number of people who recuperated from the infection stands at over 4.4 crore with a national recovery rate of 98.81%, according to the ministry's website. Accordinlivg to the website, 220.67 crore doses of Covid vaccines have so far been administered in the country.
1. Jammu on Thursday reported the first cases of coronavirus in a "long time". The patient has no history of travel but came in contact with someone who had returned from abroad a few days ago
2. The Delhi government is keeping an eye on the new variant JN.1 of the coronavirus. Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj visited Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital to assess the preparedness yesterday.
Delhi reports first case of Covid's JN.1 sub-variant
3. On Thursday, Delhi reported two new cases of Covid-19. The reports of both the infected patients were sent for genome sequencing to confirm whether they were instances of sub-variant, JN.1.
4. In Gujarat, 22 of the 36 patients infected with sub-variant JN.1 have recovered
5. As of Thursday, 157 cases of Covid-19 sub-variant have been detected in the country, with Kerala reporting the highest number of 78, followed by Gujarat at 34.
COVID-19: 10 latest updates; active cases, advisory, JN.1 variant and more
6. Gurugram District Magistrate Nishant Kumar Yadav ordered hospitals to set up isolation wards, a dedicated section within each ICU, and a separate OPD for patients amid a rise in active cases.
7. Popular Tamil Nadu actor Vijayakant died after testing positive for Covid-19.
8. Karnataka's health government has mandated home isolation for Covid positive patients.
Amid Covid cases surge, Karnataka mandates 7-day home isolation
9. The Maharashtra government has once again formed the Covid-19 special task force. The first meeting of the task force was held on Thursday where Health Minister Tanaji Sawant urged people not to panic about the JN.1 variant but follow COVID-19 guidelines, and mask up in crowded places during the New Year celebrations and visits to religious places. People with comorbidities are advised to be extra careful.
10. The Karnataka government has decided to impose mandatory seven-day home isolation for infected patients and monitor those in ICUs through Tele ICU.
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Published: 29 Dec 2023, 11:38 AM IST
COVID-19 cases in India: India saw a single-day rise of 529 cases of coronavirus, with the number of active cases at 4,093 cases. According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare data at 8 am, three new fatalities have been reported two from Karnataka and one from Gujarat in the last 24 hours.
Meanwhile, 40 more cases of COVID-19 sub-variant JN.1 were recorded with the tally of cases reaching 109 till December 26. Thirty-six cases were detected in Gujarat, 34 from Karnataka, 14 from Goa, nine from Maharashtra, six from Kerala, four each from Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu, and two from Telangana.
Most of the patients are currently in home isolation.
COVID-19 infections have been on the rise after the emergence of the new JN.1 variant and due to cold weather conditions. The daily numbers had soared to lakhs amid the pandemic, resulting in the infection of over 4.5 crore people and death of over 5.3 lakh since the pandemic began in early 2020.
As many as 4.4 crore people recovered from the disease, with the national recovery rate at 98.81 per cent. The case fatality rate stands at 1.19 per cent.
All about new COVID-19 variant, JN.1:
The JN.1 variant, a descendant of the BA.2.86 lineage of SARS COV2, first emerged in August this year in Luxembourg.
NITI Aayog member (Health) Dr V K Paul highlighting the importance of ramping up tests and strengthening surveillance systems, said last week that the new variant JN.1 was being closely investigated. Officials have said that while JN.1 cases have been reported across multiple states in the country, there is no cause of immediate concern. They said that 92 per cent of those infected by JN.1 have opted for home treatment. This indicates that the illness is mild, they pointed out.
Officials further said that there has been no increase in hospitalisation rates and that COVID-19 is an incidental finding in those hospitalised due to other medical conditions.
Meanwhile, Union Health Secretary Sudhansh Pant wrote to states and Union Territories asking for requisite public health measures to be put in place and underlined critical COVID-19 control and management strategies. States have been asked to ensure effective compliance of operational guidelines for COVID-19.
Influenza-like Illness (ILI) and Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI) have also been asked to be monitored and reported district-wise for early detection of the rising trend of cases.
Also read: New Covid variant JN.1: As cases spike, can it impact India's economy? Here's what experts say
Also read: COVID-19 in India: 69 JN.1 variant cases reported till Monday, highest from Karnataka
