JN.1 COVID variant: Maharashtra asks health officials to ensure availability of ventilators, oxygen cylinders

In the wake of detection of JN.1 COVID variant in the country, Maharashtra Minister Sanjay Bansode instructed health officials to ensure the availability of ventilators, oxygen cylinders and other necessary equipment at the government hospitals.

In a meeting in Latur on Saturday, Bansode asked the health department to take precautionary measures and ensure that all necessary equipment and medicines at all government-run facilities are adequately available.

Collector Varsha Thakur-Ghuge, chief executive officer Anmol Sagar, superintendent of police Somay Munde, municipal commissioner Babasaheb Manohare and other senior officials attended the meeting.

India has so far reported 22 cases of JN.1 variant of COVID till December 21. The JN.1 (BA.2.86.1.1) emerged in August in Luxembourg and is a descendant of the BA.2.86 lineage (Pirola) of SARS COV2.

According to the Union Health Ministry’s data on Sunday (December 24), India has recorded a single-day rise of 656 COVID infections while the active cases have increased to 3,742.

He directed the officials to complete the construction of primary health centres and other health institutions in the district soon and also ordered to take necessary steps to make them functional.

Considering the emergence of the new variant, testing kits have been made available to check symptomatic patients, district health officer Dr Vadgave said.

Fifty beds are reserved for new cases in Vilasrao Deshmukh Government Medical College, and a mock drill was conducted to inspect ventilators and oxygen facilities, a health official said.