MUSCAT: The Ministry of Health confirmed that it is taking all necessary measures throughout the year against the new JN.1 Covid-19 strain, affirming that it does not pose a major threat to public health.
The Ministry of Health disclosed that a number of mild cases of the new Covid-19 variant have been detected in the Sultanate of Oman since October last year all of whom fully recovered indicating that the highest recorded prevalence of seasonal influenza viruses occurred last December representing 41 per cent of tested laboratory samples.
Regarding global concern of the spread of new Covid-19 variants and viruses causing acute respiratory diseases, Dr Fatima bint Mohammad al Yaqoubiyah, Head of the Department of Tuberculosis and Acute Respiratory Diseases Control, said: “The World Health Organization (WHO) earlier announced that the JN.1 Covid-19 strain, first detected in the United States last September, has been recorded in over 41 countries. It originated from the mutated Covid-19 variant called BA.2.86 ‘Pirola’ which emerged from the mutant Omicron strain that was prevalent in 2022 and later became responsible for 27 per cent of Covid-19 infections. The following countries registered the highest cases of JN.1 Covid-19 strain: France, the USA, Singapore, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Sweden.
The Sultanate of Oman is working hard to increase vaccination coverage which recently reached 96 per cent for pregnant women and the older people. The influenza vaccine has also been introduced for children aged 24 months to reduce morbidity and hospitalization rates among children, she said.
Al Yaqoubiyah stated that the Sultanate of Oman’s epidemiological investigation policy was updated in 2017 to include monitoring and controlling a number of viruses that cause acute respiratory infections by adopting electronic reporting. The policy was upgraded in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic through online reporting by all public and private establishments. The health institutions have also been activated to serve as focal points for monitoring the epidemiological situation throughout the year as an early warning system with the introduction of molecular tests to support the tracking of emerging viruses.
Regarding the significant increase in infections and hospitalization rate among children, Al Yaqoubiyah said that the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a very common virus that most children under two years old are infected with RSV which also infect adults. The symptoms which are usually mild resembling those of a cold and include a runny or congested nose, dry cough, mild fever, sore throat, sneezing, and headache. In certain cases the virus can cause severe symptoms such lung inflammation in some people including children 12 months old and younger especially those born prematurely as well as old people, people with heart and lung disease and those with a weak immune system. These segments are required to be admitted to the intensive care unit.
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