Health authorities in Ireland have seen a further increase in confirmed instances of the novel JN.1 Covid strain, reports The Mirror.
The Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) identified 832 instances of the strain on February 7.
It stated earlier this week that the number of identified illnesses increased by 432 to 1,264. This represents a 51.9% rise in less than a month.
The JN.1 variety has “rapidly increased” since November, according to the HPSC, and “there are likely to be increases in case numbers.” But it also stated: “There is no indication of impact of vaccine effectiveness or increased disease severity as compared to other circulating variants”, reports The Mirror.
Giving an update on Covid in Ireland, it said: “Since February 2023, XBB (and other recombinant) SARS-CoV-2 variants have dominated circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants worldwide. Since mid-June 2023, XBB.1.5 and related lineages with the F456L mutation (and subsequently with the additional L455F mutation) in the spike protein increased in predominance globally and in Ireland. However, since November 2023, the BA.2.86 sublineage JN.1 has rapidly increased and is replacing XBB.1.5-like lineages,” reports The Mirror.
“A new variant with an unusually high number of mutations, BA.2.86, was detected in Israel on August 13th 2023 and eventually spread globally, though at relatively low prevalence. A sublineage of BA.2.86, JN.1, since however emerged rapidly and has become the predominant variant globally. It was made a Variant of Interest by the WHO on December 19th 2023 due to this rapid rise. The updated WHO risk evaluation published February 9th 2024 indicates that it possesses some antigenic advantage allowing it to evade previous immunity. However, while there are likely to be increases in case numbers, there is no indication of impact of vaccine effectiveness or increased disease severity as compared to other circulating variants,” reports The Mirror.
“There have been 1,264 COVID-19 cases confirmed as infected with the JN.1 lineage and sublineages to date in Ireland. Of these cases, 447 (35.4%) were associated with outbreaks in hospital or healthcare settings. JN.1 and its sublineages now predominate sequenced cases in Ireland and between week 5 and week 9 2024 accounted for 89.2% of sequences,” reports The Mirror.
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