COVID-19 cases in India: After China, Singapore, Hong Kong, an increase in coronavirus patients has been seen in India as well. In such a situation, the doctor has said that corona …
COVID-19 cases in India: After Singapore, Hong Kong, now the cases of corona have increased in India too in the last few weeks. All the health agencies of the country are monitoring the cases of corona and many states have also issued advisories. In China, the percentage of people suffering from respiratory diseases seriously ill with COVID-19 has increased from 3.3 percent to 6.3 percent last month and the rate of A&E patients for the virus in the hospitals there has increased from 7.5 percent to 16.2 percent. Apart from this, Taiwan has seen a 78 percent increase in those hospitalized due to COVID. Although experts say that there is no need to panic, but there is definitely a question in the minds of the people that why is corona spreading again? So let’s also know what the doctor has to say about this.
Why are corona patients increasing?
Dr Sanjeet Sasidharan, Consultant and Head of Critical Care, SL Raheja Hospital, Mahim (Mumbai), while speaking about the nature of emerging variants and the reasons for the constant evolution of the virus, said, ‘Corona testing has become a part of most infectious disease panels and hence it is now being taken up more than others. The availability of tests and the growing awareness about common cold being Covid-19 has led to an increase in the number of Covid-19 cases.’
‘The current virus appears to be mild. This mild nature of the infection can be attributed to a considerable amount of natural immunity to the infection. Nagpur and Mumbai have reported a relatively higher number of Covid-19 cases. Currently, the spread of Covid-19 is quite low and is nowhere close to the first pandemic that the world saw earlier.’
Dr Vikas Maurya, Senior Director and Head of Pulmonology, Fortis Hospital, Shalimar Bagh, says, ‘JN.1 has so far caused only mild to moderate Covid-19 symptoms and the risk of severe disease is low. We are seeing mild symptoms of the disease and cases of serious complications are not very high. Experts are also stressing on testing and genomic surveillance to identify the variants currently circulating. There is no need to panic.’
Will there be more cases in the coming times?
Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have reported the highest number of cases in the last few months. However, these numbers are very low and not a matter of great concern. With the rains and the drop in temperature, there has been an increase in viral illness. Any viral illness, COVID-19 or any other illness will keep increasing from time to time in the cold months. Also, we must understand that over time the population may have ‘waning natural immunity’ which will further increase the number of infected people.’
How do new variants emerge?
There are three types of variants, variant of interest, variant of concern and high-risk variant. The coronavirus does not have the ability to create new variants but COVID-19 keeps creating different variants again and again. Whenever a virus infects a human cell it starts mutating which may lead to errors in its genetic structure, potentially resulting in the emergence of new variants. Some of these mutations may prevent the virus from becoming severe while some may even increase the risk.
How dangerous is the JN.1 variant?
Dr Sanjeet said, ‘The JN.1 variant has been present for the last 8 to 12 months which is a descendant of BA.2.86 which belongs to the Omicron family. Recently, a new subvariant has been found which has been named Nb.1.8.1. This is a variant that has many mutations that can also dodge natural immunity and can easily infect the human body. Epidemiological studies and more data are being studied on the various effects of infection with this variant.’
The rise in Covid-19 cases in Southeast Asia is mainly due to the JN.1 variant which is a descendant of the Omicron BA.2.86 variant. JN.1 is more resilient than its original strain. Its mutations help it attach to human cells more easily and evade immunity. The virus spreads in a similar way to earlier Covid variants.
According to WHO, the JN.1 variant has around 30 mutations and among them LF.7 and NB.1.8 are the 2 most common variants in recently reported cases.
