New variant won’t affect most people: BHU don
Prof Gyaneshwar Chaubey of BHU says the new variant JN.1 of Covid-19 will have minimal adverse effects on most of India's population as over 90% have been infected. Elderly and those with comorbidities should be cautious. JN.1 is a variant of interest that grows fast but its severity is not yet evident.
Prof Gyaneshwar Chaubey, department of Zoology, BHU, said that JN.1, the new variant of Covid-19, will hardly have any adverse effect on much of the population in India as more than 90% of India’s population has been infected by Covid-19 at one point or another.
Prof Chaubey, however, said that elderly people and those who have comorbidities need to be careful.
He is keeping a watch on figures (numbers) ever since the first case of the new variant was reported in the country this month. He said that JN.1 is declared a “variant of interest” (VoI) by WHO a few days ago because it grows fast. VoI is a term applied to variants of the coronavirus that appear to be evolving faster than others and which have genetic changes (mutations) that increase the potency of the virus.
In the beginning of November, out of all the Corona cases coming, 3% were of this variant, whereas in the month of December, the number of cases due to this variant became 28%. This variant is a sub-variant of Omicron, which has a new mutation L455S in its spike protein, said Prof Chaubey.
“Even though this variant is infecting more people, its seriousness is not visible yet! So far, this variant has not been as severe as other known Covid-19 variants were in the past,” he said.
Prof Chaubey said, “more than 90% of India’s population has been infected by Covid-19 virus at one point or another. So even if the antibody neutralisation capacity of this virus has increased, it will hardly have any adverse effect on most people in India. However, older people and those who have comorbidities need to be more careful.”
