A case of JN.1 subvariant of COVID19 has been detected in Kerala, as part of the ongoing routine surveillance activity by INSACOG, Dr Rajiv Bahl, Director General, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) informed on Saturday.

The Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) is a network of Genomic Laboratories that has been monitoring the COVID-19 in India from a genomic perspective; ICMR is a part of this consortium. As per the revised surveillance guidelines in the context of COVID-19, patients of ILI and SARI are tested for Covid-19 and positive cases referred for Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS).

According to the Health Ministry, the case was detected in a RT-PCR positive sample from Karakulam, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala on 8th December 2023. The sample was tested RT-PCR positive on 18th November 2023. The patient had mild symptoms of Influenza Like Illness (ILI) and has since recovered from Covid-19.

The Ministry also said that the increasing trend of COVID-19 cases from the State of Kerala since the last few weeks and that majority of the cases are clinically mild and recovering on their own at their homes without any treatment. The rising cases has attributed to an increase in number of samples from ILI cases being referred for testing, it said.

Under the directives of the Ministry, a mock drill in all health facilities in States is currently underway to assess their public health and hospital preparedness measures since 13th December and is likely to be completed by 18th December 2023, it informed.

The Health Ministry assured that it is in regular touch with the Department of Health in Kerala and monitoring various points of entry.