Health experts are now closely monitoring the new COVID variation, JN.1, as it spreads quickly around the world after the World Health Organization designated it a “variant of interest”.
It has not yet been demonstrated that the highly modified form of the coronavirus causes more serious illness than earlier variants. However, compared to its predecessor, the BA.2.86 variety, it is spreading more quickly.
WHO wrote
JN.1 continues to be reported in multiple countries, and its prevalence has been rapidly increasing globally and now represents the vast majority of BA.2.86 descendent lineages reported
Based on WHO, variants of interest are those that are significant enough to warrant more laboratory and field research on their dissemination.
Additionally, genetic alterations that alter a crucial aspect of the virus must be present in the variant. These are transmissibility or resistance to vaccinations and treatments.
They added that the strain could be growing so that it can be “an emerging risk to global public health.”
Similar criteria are used by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to categorize variants according to the risk they pose to Americans. However, JN.1 has not yet been designated as a “variant of interest.”
But according to the WHO, preliminary data suggests that JN.1’s alterations do seem to increase its capacity to evade the body’s immune system.
The WHO said,
Based on its genetic features, JN.1 may possess some antigenic advantage evading previous immunity,
According to CDC estimates released earlier this month, JN.1 was the strain with the fastest rate of growth in the US, accounting for over one out of every five infections across the country. According to the CDC, the variation is expected to become widespread.
The WHO further stated that this season’s enhanced COVID-19 vaccines are still anticipated to protect against infection from the JN.1 variety, despite the fact that JN.1 is spreading rapidly.
