Karnataka advises seniors and people with comorbidities to mask up amid the Covid wave in Kerala

Karnataka Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao has urged both senior citizens and people with health conditions to mask up as a precaution.

Bangalore: Concerned about a COVID surge across the border in Kerala, Karnataka raised the alarm for its most vulnerable citizens. Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao urged both seniors and people with health conditions to mask up as a precaution. The state, he assured, is closely monitoring the situation in Kerala and is fully prepared to address any spillover effects.

“We will issue detailed advice soon and discuss this in a meeting. People above 60 years of age in the state with comorbidities are wearing masks as a precaution. The state government has directed all hospitals in districts around Kerala to be alert and equipped. We will also increase the number of tastings to be held, the minister said, according to the Hindustan Times report.

India’s COVID-19 situation remains under control

The COVID-19 situation in India remains under control, with an active caseload of 1,828 as of Monday. However, one death was reported in Kerala where the JN.1 subvariant of the coronavirus was recently detected.

Dr. NK Arora, head of INSACOG, a network of genomic laboratories that tracks genomic variants of the virus, said the deaths were not caused by the subvariant alone but by multiple underlying health conditions.

“The deceased had serious comorbidities such as heart, lung and kidney diseases. The primary cause of death was attributed to these conditions, and not just the JN.1 subvariant,” said Indian SARS-COV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) chief Dr NK Arora.

On genome sequencing in other states, he said: “No need to panic (over the JN.1 subvariant). The number of samples is less but these are collected from all states.” Dr. Arora emphasized that “INSACOG is closely monitoring the situation and studying the epidemiology and clinical behavior of the virus.”

Earlier on Saturday, Dr Rajiv Bahl, Director General (DG) of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), said in a statement issued by the Union Health Ministry that “a case of JN.1 subvariant of COVID-19 has been detected in Kerala as part of INSACOG’s ongoing routine surveillance activities.”
“The case was detected on December 8, 2023 in an RT-PCR positive sample from Karakulam, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. The sample tested RT-PCR positive on November 18, 2023.

The patient had mild symptoms of influenza-like illness (ILI) and has since recovered from COVID-19,” he said. The Union Health Ministry is in regular contact with the Kerala Health Ministry and monitors various entry points. Earlier on Saturday, news agency ANI first reported about the Covid-19 subvariant JN.1, which is a descendant of BA.2.86, detected in Kerala.

With input from agencies)