Home » COVID-19: WHO designates JN.1 ‘variant of interest’ amid sharp rise in global spread

COVID-19: WHO designates JN.1 ‘variant of interest’ amid sharp rise in global spread

by Shabee Lakehouse
December 24, 2023 11:13 pm 0 comment

Though its current evaluation of the global public health risk is “low”, the UN health agency cautioned that with the onset of winter in the Northern Hemisphere, the new variant “could increase” the burden of respiratory infections in many countries, noting other diseases such as RSV, influenza and childhood pneumonia that are already on the rise.

The classification of JN.1 as a separate variant of interest (VOI) is down to “its rapidly increasing spread” around the globe, WHO said in an advisory issued on Tuesday.

JN.1 has been found in many countries, including India, China, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Previously JN.1 was classified and tracked as part of its parent BA.2.86 lineage, which itself is a descendant of the Omicron or B.1.1.529 variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19 disease.

In comparison with its parent lineage BA.2.86, JN.1 has an additional mutation (the L455S mutation) in the spike protein.

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