Eight Covid-19 JN.1 symptoms to look for as variant becomes most common on Earth

A new Covid-19 variant has become the most common one on Earth and more than 10,000 deaths from the virus were reported worldwide last month.

This new strain, called JN.1, is itself a mutation of the Omicron variant of the virus, which spread in the UK during Christmas 2021. According to experts, the new spread of the virus may have been caused by this new variant, mixed with all the travelling over the Christmas period, reports The Mirror.

JN.1 could hit an all-time high in the UK in just a week if numbers continue to grow.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the World Health Organization director-general, told a press conference in Geneva the JN.1 variant was now the most prominent in the world. He added he is “certain” cases are on the rise in other places which have not been reported.

Calling on world governments to boost surveillance, he added: “Although 10,000 deaths a month is far less than the peak of the pandemic, this level of preventable deaths is not acceptable.”

The technical leader at the WHO for Covid-19, Maria Van Kerkhove, said the increase in respiratory diseases worldwide was due to the virus, alongside flu, rhinovirus and pneumonia. She said: “We expect those trends to continue into January through the winter months in the northern hemisphere.”

Scientists said last week that Covid-19 cases could reach record highs by mid-January after the JN.1 strain became dominant. They reached this conclusion using data from the ONS and UK Health Security Agency winter infection survey published on December 21.

This showed that on December 13, 2.54 million people had Covid-19, double the amount at the start of December. Another warning showed more than 100,000 people in the UK could develop Long Covid in the next few weeks.

Yesterday Professor Lawrence Young, a virologist at Warwick University, warned: “The rapid rise of infections with the JN.1 variant in the UK and across the world is yet another reminder that the pandemic is far from over. JN.1 is one of the most immune-evading variants to date and is likely to be the lineage from which new variants will evolve.

“We can expect to see more people suffering from infections with JN .1 over the coming weeks as a consequence of more indoor mixing due to the cold weather and the return of pupils to school. More infections means more days off work and more hospitalisations.”

The eight symptoms of the JN.1 variant include: