New Covid variant, return to wearing masks advised

Hyderabad: The Centre on Monday placed all states on high alert and called for a “constant vigil” right up to the district level, in the wake of a new sub-variant of the Coronavirus, JN1, discovered in Kerala, which is believed to be more infectious than its parent BA 2.86 variant.

While doctors say there is no great cause for concern now, the Union health ministry in a notice to all state governments, said that it was time for putting “in place public health measures and other measures to minimise the risk of increase in transmission of the disease.”

According to Dr M. Raja Rao, superintendent of Gandhi Hospital, which continues to be the nodal centre in Telangana state for treating Covid cases, “It’s better that people begin following Covid appropriate behaviour, especially those with comorbidities, the elderly and children.” Dr Raja Rao also strongly advocated for the return of wearing of masks.

He said that anyone with respiratory illness symptoms such as cold, cough, and influenza-like illnesses (ILIs), must get themselves tested for Covid and stay isolated till test results are available.

Director of Public Health Dr G. Srinivasa Rao said the situation was not alarming and that the state was following Central guidelines. “We are enhancing surveillance,” he said. The state was reporting an odd Covid case once in a few days.

A senior doctor said, “What people do not understand is that though they may experience mild Covid symptoms, their long-term health prospects are getting degraded with each round of infection.”

The Centre said that every state should ensure adequate testing, ensure a higher number of RT-PCR tests and send positive samples for genome sequencing to enable timely detection of new variants, if any.