Egypt confirms its first two cases of “JN.1” coronavirus variant

Egypt’s Ministry of Health and Population on Thursday confirmed the nation’s first two cases of infection with the new coronavirus variant “JN.1”.

In a statement, the ministry announced that citizens were confirmed to be infected with the JN1 variant through laboratory tests. Their health condition remains stable and there is no need for them to be hospitalized, as their symptoms are mild upper respiratory tract infection.

The ministry assured it continues carefully monitoring the epidemiological situation in Egypt.

It added that there has been no change regarding recommendations for dealing with the coronavirus, as it is one of the viruses that infect the respiratory system such as influenza and the rhinovirus group.

No medical recommendations are needed to take any precautionary measures different from other viruses, it added.

What you need to know about the latest strain:

Egypt’s Ministry of Health and Population issued a statement on Monday assuring that it was following up on  reports received from the World Health Organization, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and global health authorities regarding the discovery of a sub-strain of the Omicron variant dubbed “JN.1”

The statement included some details related to the new Omicron variant:

• The prevalence of “BA.2.86” Omicron lineage and its descendant strains, including “JN.1”, amounted to about 37 percent of the total samples reported worldwide – over half of them were of the new variant, according to the report issued by the WHO.
• The “JN.1” variant is able to spread widely and has the ability to infect those who were previously vaccinated with old vaccines against the emerging coronavirus, used prior to 2023.
• Initial doses of the coronavirus vaccine will likely help protect against this new sub-variant.
• Most cases of infection resulting from this mutant are mild, and there are no distinct clinical symptoms different from the previous symptoms of the Omicron mutant.
• The expected public health risks of this variant are still low.

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