Viruses are strips of genetic material and some other molecules. Strictly speaking, they never die and even when they are benign, these microbes are at work, infecting people. That’s why experts have maintained that the Covid virus will never go away — new variants and sub-variants that escape the protection offered by vaccines will emerge. That’s what seems to be happening in India and some other parts of the world which have seen an uptick of Covid cases for about a week. The rise in infections has largely been driven by a new sub-variant of Omicron, JN.1. Three Covid-related deaths have been reported from Kerala and two from Karnataka, though their connection with the JN.1 hasn’t yet been established. The government has rightly advised caution though it has also assured that the situation is by no means worrying. “The variant is currently under intense scientific scrutiny but not a cause of immediate concern. All JN.1 cases were found to be mild and all of them have recovered without any complications,” the Health Ministry has said.
Omicron has been the dominant coronavirus variant for a little more than two years. So far, its substrains have displayed certain common characteristics — they replicate in the upper respiratory tract and tend to cause less severe disease compared to the Delta variety. Its ability to mutate fast helped Omicron find new ways to infect people. A section of researchers had feared that its slipperiness may offset Omicron’s reduced nastiness. That does not seem to have happened.
