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Maharashtra: 731 COVID cases in state but cause of surge elusive
Updated On: 02 January, 2024 01:12 AM IST | Mumbai | Eshan Kalyanikar
That JN.1 is responsible for the increase is only a guess so far owing to its limited numbers and pending genome sequencing, officials say clearer picture to emerge next week
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The state COVID-19 task force expects genome sequencing to be completed in large numbers next week. Pic/Satej Shinde
Of the 731 active COVID-19 cases in the state, only 29 have been confirmed to be of the new JN.1 variant. Parallely, genomic sequencing for most cases is still pending. This has resulted in uncertainty regarding the cause of the surge in COVID-19 cases. A clearer picture is expected to emerge by the beginning of next week state health officials said.
“Generally speaking,” said Dr Rajesh Karyakarte, a member of the state’s COVID-19 task force overseeing the genomic sequencing, “a new variant is responsible for the surge when the surge caused by the older variant is waning. The older variants are not positioned to cause a surge unless there are new mutations.”
As of now, it is only a guess that the recent rise in COVID-19 cases is due to the JN.1 variant. “We will have a clearer idea by next week after sequencing in large numbers is completed. That is also when we will understand if it is only JN.1 that has caused the rise in numbers or if XBB.1.16 and XBB.2.3 are also present,” he said. On Monday, the total number of active cases in Maharashtra was 731.
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