New strain of COVID-19 JN.1 detected in KP

PESHAWAR: Nine cases of the Covid-19 including two of new JN.1 variant have emerged in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) prompting health authorities to issue advisories and ramp up testing efforts across the province.

Out of the nine cases two are of JN.1 and JN.1.8 variant. Six cases of the corona have been reported from Peshawar and three from Swat.

Director Public Health, Dr. Arshad, has directed hospitals to increase testing for influenza-like illnesses in response to the positive cases of the Covid-19 JN.1 variant in KP.

Hospitals have been instructed to send samples to the Public Health Reference Lab for genome testing.

Covid-19 tests of int’l passengers to be conducted

Following genome sequencing, it was revealed that two new variants of the coronavirus have surfaced.

According to the Director of Public Health in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, these variants include JN.1 and JN1.8.

The World Health Organization has stated that the transmission rate of the JN.1 variant of COVID-19 is three times higher.

Public advisories have also been issued to encourage the public to adopt precautionary measures.

WHAT IS JN.1?

A SARS-CoV-2 variant called BA.2.86 emerged a few months ago and caught virologists’ attention because it contains many more mutations—about 30 of them—to evade immunity than any other variant circulating at that time. However, the BA.2.86 variant never came to dominate among the group of SARS-CoV-2 variants that were circulating in the late summer/early fall of 2023. The JN.1 variant is a descendant of BA.2.86 that has acquired the ability to transmit efficiently through an additional one or two mutations. It has the immune evasion of its parent but has now mutated to transmit more efficiently.