WHO declares new Covid strain JN.1 a ‘variant of interest’

The World Health Organization designated on Tuesday the JN.1 Covid strain as a variant of interest, “due to its rapidly increasing spread.”

While the WHO noted that the new strain poses a low global public health risk, it warned that it could increase the burden of respiratory infections, especially in countries currently experiencing winter.

Subvariant JN.1, a descendant of the Omicron strain, represented about 3% of all Covid cases in early November, but jumped to 27.1% a month later, the WHO highlighted, warning that it could lead to an increase in cases.