Breaking Down the Newest COVID Variant: Recognizing Symptoms and Taking Precautions
1) What is this new Covid Virus that is in the news presently?
– This is not a new virus or a fresh type. This has been labelled as the JN.1 variant. It is basically not a variant but a sub variant of the OMICRON variant which we had encountered during the 3rd wave.
– There have been many variants coming up since then but the JN.1 sub variant has become more obvious because of it’s rapid spread.
– This subvariant is spreading the disease very rapidly because it bypasses the immune response of our body and hence the spread is very quick.
2) Symptoms:
Mostly flu like symptoms
– Fever
– Cough
– Cold (runny nose)
– Sore Throat
-This causes extreme weakness and easy fatigability
-Most specifically, this variant has been shown to cause severe nausea and loss of appetite.
3) Severity of the disease:
– 90% of the cases experience very mild flu like symptoms.
– They can take treatment in home isolation.
– Very few might require hospitalization.
– Seen especially in elderly or patients with severe co-morbidities like heart disease, renal disease, liver disease, diabetes mellitus etc.
4) Effectiveness of the Vaccine:
– Any vaccine which is effective against the spike protein is effective against this sub variant also.
– The vaccine has definitely failed in preventing the infection but really helps in decreasing the severity of the disease.
5) This sub variant has been known, may be since a couple of months. First identified in Luxenberg.
6) Precautions:
– Masking
– Social Distancing
– Avoiding crowded places
– Groups should be sitting in well ventilated rooms
– Taking proper medical advice by visiting your doctor and avoiding over the counter medicines.
-Elderly and people with co-morbidities should be more careful.
7) Government’s Role:
– Increase the testing, so that the spread can be curtailed
– Taking proper measures at public places
– Issue proper guidelines to the public
– Avoiding panic among people by controlling the media
8) Is there any reason to panic:
– No, there is no reason to panic.
– Most of the patients have very mild flu like symptoms which can be managed at home.
– Hospitalization is very less only elderly or people with severe co-morbidities.
– Please go for medical attention at the earliest of the suspected symptoms are encountered.
Article by
