Thane logs five cases of COVID-19 JN.1 variant

Thane city has reported five cases of COVID19 JN1 variant out of 20 samples tested since November 30 an official said on Sunday reported news agency PTIThe number of active COVID19 cases in the city is 28 While two of them are being treated at hospitals the rest are recovering at their homes he said reported PTIA total of 20 samples were sent for COVID19 testing since November 30 this year and five of them returned positive for the JN1 variant the civic official said reported PTIThe patients infected with the JN1 variant include a woman None of them are hospitalised reported PTIMeanwhile Thane Municipal Commissioner Abhijit Bangar and his Navi Mumbai counterpart Rajesh Narvekar held meetings with senior officials and reviewed preparedness reported PTIThey also gave specific directions to officials reported PTIMeanwhile Maharashtra on Sunday reported 50 new COVID19 cases taking the total number of infections since the beginning of the spread of novel coronavirus to 8172135 nearly three years ago said a daily bulletin by the health department reported PTIOf the fresh cases nine were caused by JN1 increasing the number of infections tied to the new subvariant to 10 it said reported PTIThe JN1 patients include five from Thane city two from Pune city and one each from a rural pocket of Pune district Akola city and Sindhudurg district One patient from Pune had travelled to the US the bulletin said reported PTIAll the JN1 patients have recovered it saidThe World Health Organisation WHO has classified the new strain as a separate variant of interest given its rapidly increasing spread but said that it poses a low global public health riskEven though the number of cases is rising and the JN1 subvariant has been detected in the country there is no cause of immediate concern as 92 per cent of those infected are opting for homebased treatment indicating mild illness officials had said earlier reported PTIThose suffering from cold cough or fever should maintain distance from other people and use masks and wash their hands with soap or use sanitiser according to doctorsMaharashtra has so far tested 87565093 samples for COVID19 of which 8172135 were found to be positive As many as 8023418 patients have been discharged so far the bulletin added reported PTIAccording to the Union health ministrys updated data on Sunday the country saw a singleday rise of 656 COVID19 infections while the active cases have increased to 3742 reported PTIIn May following a sustained decline in the trajectory of coronavirus cases hospitalisations and deaths and high levels of population immunity to SARSCoV2 the WHO had declared that COVID19 no longer constituted a public health emergency of international concern reported PTIWith inputs from PTI