After a prolonged period without new infections, Manipur reported a fresh case of Covid-19 on December 27. When contacted, Health department officials disclosed that the infected individual– a lady hailing from Paomata in Senapati district of Manipur – took a flight from Delhi to Dimapur by IndiGo Airlines on December 16 and subsequently travelled by road from Dimapur to Senapati on December 17.
The officials said the Manipur State Surveillance Unit had informed its Nagaland counterpart on Friday about the case.
With the emergence of fresh cases of sub-variant JN.1 across the country, the officials revealed that sample has been sent to the National Institute of Virology in Pune for genome sequencing to ascertain whether the case was of JN.1 variant.
Both Manipur and Nagaland were closely monitoring the case and all necessary measures were being taken, the officials claimed.
Speaking to Nagaland Post, Dimapur chief medical officer (CMO) Dr Limatula Aier said they were yet to receive detailed report from Manipur. She, however, mentioned that contact tracing could be carried out.
The World Health Organization recently classified JN.1 as a variant of interest, distinct from its parent lineage BA.2.86. However, the global health body emphasised that the overall risk posed by JN.1 remains low based on current evidence.