The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified the JN.1 coronavirus variant that causes Covid-19 as a “variant of concern” due to its “rapid spread,” although it said the risk to global public health is low.
The SARS-CoV-2 JN.1 variant “may increase the burden of respiratory infections in many countries” in the northern hemisphere as the winter season approaches, according to the WHO, which issued a statement on the matter on Tuesday.
However, the WHO assures that the Covid-19 vaccines in circulation (which prevent serious illness and death) work against this variant, which comes from the BA.2.86 lineage (which comes from the Omicron variant).
Covid-19 is a pandemic respiratory disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, a type of virus first discovered in 2019 in China that has several variants and subvariants, some more contagious than others.