COVID-19 Variant JN.1: Information and Updates from the CDC and WHO

2023-12-25 13:56:48

▲ U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, USA

A new COVID-19 variant (JN.1) is spreading throughout the United States. It has doubled in the last two weeks.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced on the 22nd that as a result of observing the increasing trend of COVID-19 variant JN.1 infections, it rose from 39% to 50%.

“The rate of infection caused by JN.1 continues to increase in most regions of the world,” the CDC added.

According to the announcement, the continued growth of JN.1 is due to its higher transmissibility or superior ability to bypass the immune system than other mutations.

It is not yet known how JN.1 infection is caused.

Recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) designated JN.1 as a ‘notable variant’, but announced that there is currently no evidence that it poses a serious or significant risk.

WHO said, “JN.1 appears to have a low risk compared to other variants,” and “variant transmission is expected to place less burden on national public health systems than other Omicron sublineages.”

WHO categorizes them into ‘variants under observation,’ ‘variants of concern,’ and ‘variants of concern.’

“There may be more cases with the new variant, but this variant does not pose a greater risk,” Andrew Pekos, a virologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said in a recent ABC interview.

“While the variant may be spreading more widely, there is no significant evidence that it poses a serious or significant public health risk,” said Dr. John Brownstein, director of innovation at Boston Children’s Hospital.

Meanwhile, the CDC stated that there is no evidence that JN.1 causes symptoms that are particularly different from other prevalent COVID-19 variants.

Symptoms of JN.1 COVID-19 infection may include cough, sore throat, headache, muscle pain, fever, loss of taste or smell, runny nose, decreased cognitive function of the brain, fatigue, and congestion.

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