Pakistan reports four cases of new variant of COVID-19

• JN.1 subvariant declared as variant of interest.
• The health minister says there is no need to panic.
• People asked to take precautionary measures, to use masks.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan reported four cases of JN.1, a sub-variant of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, on Sunday night, The News reported.

Health authorities confirmed the detection of a highly contagious variant, saying the four infected, who entered the country from abroad, had mild symptoms and recovered from the disease on their own.

An NHS,R&C official said the affected people tested positive for COVID-19 and when their genome was sequenced, they were found to be infected with the JN.1 sub-variant.

Omicron’s JN.1 subvariant has been declared a Variant of Interest (VoI) by the World Health Organization and is rapidly replacing other Omicron subvariants worldwide.

Health authorities in Pakistan began mandatory testing of 2% of incoming passengers for COVID-19 two days ago and began sending the samples for genome sequencing to detect the JN.1 sub-variant after the deadly sub-variant was detected in neighboring India and other countries of the world.

Commenting on the detection of sub-variant JN.1, Acting Federal Health Minister Dr Nadeem Jan said there was no need to panic as 90% of Pakistan’s population had been vaccinated against COVID-19, adding that border health authorities were on alert and operates in accordance with international health regulations.

“People should take precautions and use masks, wash hands frequently with soap or use hand sanitizers, and practice social distancing to prevent themselves from getting the flu and other respiratory illnesses including COVID-19.” , he added.