We need to be cautious: WHO ex-top official on JN.1

December 21, 2023 23:15

Dr Soumya Swaminathan

Amid the rising new JN.1 COVID-19 variant scare, former World Health Organisation chief scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan asserted that there is no need to panic currently as it is a variant of interest and not of concern.

However, she urged people to be cautious by taking proper precautionary measures.

Speaking to ANI exclusively, Dr Soumya Swaminathan, former DG, of the Indian Council of Medical Research said, "We need to be cautious, but we don't need to worry because we don't have any data to suggest that this variant JN.1 is more severe or it's going to cause more pneumonia, more death."

"I think what we need to do is try to take the normal preventive measures that we are all now familiar with. We were familiar with Omicron, so it's the same family. So not much has changed, but 1 or 2 new mutations have come up. And that's why I think WHO has said let's keep a watch on it. It's a variant of interest. It's not a variant of concern," she said.

She further advised precautions to avoid infection, "Avoid being in a very closed environment with very poor ventilation with toxic people without a mask. So do wear a mask if you're in that type of very close setting because prolonged exposure to somebody infected increases the risk of infection." -- ANI

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