GUWAHATI: In the wake of a reported surge in Covid-19 cases in the country, Assam’s Health Minister, Keshab Mahanta, issued a heartfelt appeal to the people of the state, urging them to remain vigilant on December 20.
Assuring active government monitoring, Mahanta took to a social media platform to provide assurance and highlighted that, as of now, no cases of the new variant have been reported in Assam.
“No case of the new variant has yet been reported in #Assam. The Government of Assam is on alert and constantly monitoring the situation. I urge the people to remain vigilant,” he wrote.
The alert came after the Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, chaired a high-level meeting addressing the Covid-19 situation in the country on Wednesday.
In the virtual meeting, Dr Mandaviya discussed the detection of the Covid-19 subvariant JN.1 in some states with Health Ministers of states and UTs after Kerala reported three deaths and 292 fresh cases over the past 24 hours.
The meeting was attended by Mahanta, and other officials, including Dr MS Lakshmi Priya and ED Dr Manoj Kumar Choudhury from Guwahati.
In the backdrop of the arrival of the JN.1 Covid variant in the country, 341 new active cases were reported until 8 am on December 20, with a majority of cases (292) reported from Kerala.
The total number of active Covid-19 cases across India stands at 2,669, according to a national news agency
The Union Health Ministry issued an alert, stating that no clustering of cases had been reported with the new JN.1 variant of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.
While the variant is under scientific scrutiny, it is not an immediate cause for concern, as all JN.1 cases were found to be mild, with patients recovering without complications.
