New COVID Variants Not Causing Severe Illness, But Monitoring Continues: ICMR-NIV Director

Pune: The latest COVID-19 subvariants—JN.1.16 (Omicron sub-lineage) and the XFG recombinant strain (LF.7 and LP.81.2)—have not led to a significant rise in severe infections, assured Dr. Naveen Kumar, Director of ICMR-National Institute of Virology (NIV), on Wednesday. This comes as India’s active COVID cases decline after a month-long surge.

Current Situation

• Active cases: 6,483 (as per latest Health Ministry data)
• Recent deaths: 113
• Peak surge (April-May 2025): Active cases crossed 7,000

Key Findings

• The JN.1.16 subvariant drove the April surge but has since been replaced by the XFG recombinant variant (LF.7/LP.81.2).
• "Current observations suggest these strains are not causing severe disease," said Dr. Kumar.

Ongoing Surveillance
Since the pandemic began, ICMR-NIV has tracked COVID variants through its 73 Virus Research & Diagnostic Labs (VRDLs) nationwide.

• Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) of RT-PCR positive samples is ongoing.
• Data shared globally via Indian Biological Data Centre (IBDC) and GISAID.
• New variants are being isolated to study vaccine effectiveness and aid indigenous vaccine development.

Vaccine Preparedness
Two Omicron-specific vaccines are already available in India:

• Biological E’s Corbevax
• Serum Institute’s Covovax

On whether updated vaccines are needed, Dr. Kumar clarified:
"This is a policy decision. NIV’s role is to monitor circulating strains—the Health Ministry is continuously assessing the situation."

Bottom Line

While infections persist, severity remains low. ICMR-NIV continues real-time tracking to guide public health responses.

With inputs from IANS