Pune-based Council for Scientific and Industrial Research - National Chemical Laboratory, Pune Knowledge Cluster along with other partners have picked up traces of JN 1, a variant of interest, in wastewater samples collected from two testing sites in Pune. Dr Mahesh Dharne of CSIR-NCL and Priyanki Shah of PKC have confirmed that they have observed JN 1 variant in samples from two testing sites collected 10 days apart in Pune city. The World Health Organisation has classified Covid 19 strain JN 1as a separate “variant of interest” given its rapidly increasing spread but said that it poses a “low global public health risk”. In Pune, CSIR-NCL and PKC along with others have been conducting regular surveillance in the city for SARS CoV-2 by testing wastewater samples collected from sewage treatment plants. Wastewater surveillance serves as an early warning that Covid-19 is spreading in a community. So even if the alert researchers have observed the JN 1 variant in wastewater samples, Prof L S Shashidhara, founder of Pune Knowledge Cluster and Director, the National Centre for Biological Sciences, told The Indian Express that it was important to note that they have not observed it again in the same sites and also have not seen spreading to other sites. “Currently, there is no clinical sample in which this variant has been detected,” Prof Shashidhara added. The team, however, is sequencing more wastewater and clinical samples and will continue to monitor for JN 1 variant and any other variants, Prof Shashidhara said. The NCBS director also added that the pathogen surveillance consortium (APSI) is monitoring for new variants across Pune, Hyderabad and Bengaluru and this variant has not been detected in other cities. Meanwhile, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people infected with SARS-CoV-2 can shed the virus in their feces, even if they do not have symptoms. The virus can then be detected in wastewater, enabling wastewater surveillance to capture the presence of SARS-CoV-2 shed by people with and without symptoms. This allows wastewater surveillance to serve as an early warning that Covid-19 is spreading in a community. Following the alerts, health departments and communities can act quickly to prevent the spread of Covid 19. When contacted Dr Bhagwan Pawar, Chief Medical Officer, Pune Municipal Corporation said that there was no case detected so far in Pune with JN 1 variant. “However, we have issued guidelines on screening cases of influenza like illness and send samples for testing for Covid 19. A mock drill on health preparedness was also completed on December 17,” Dr Pawar said. “As per the report there are 11 government run health care facilities, 93 private hospitals and a total of 2442 doctors. There are at least 1482 doctors who have expertise and training about Covid 19 treatment. There are 3844 nurses The drill also showed that there are 1301 isolation beds in the city, 2296 oxygen supported beds, 674 ICU beds and 429 beds with ventilator support. There are 5832 RT-PCR test kits and more than 3 lakh rapid antigen test kits,” Dr Pawar added.
