This episode of Health360 delves into India's rising COVID-19 cases, fuelled by new Omicron sub-variants like JN.1. Dr. Randeep Guleria, ex-AIIMS director, explains its symptoms and cautions for vulnerable groups. Dr. Arjun Dang discusses rising test demands and variant spread. The show also explores ‘Disease X’ and its potential impact on future pandemics.
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00:00hello and welcome to a brand new episode of health 360 along the show this week a reminder
00:18for our viewers that the kobe 19 pandemic is far from over it is the relentless return of
00:25the infection even though the global emergency associated with what was known as the novel
00:31coronavirus the SARS-CoV-2 has ended or has been ended by the World Health Organization well as
00:39of today if we were to factor in the beginning of 2025 there have been a total of 5,000 recorded
00:46cases in India the fact is the actual cases could be much much more because people aren't testing
00:52so hence around about 5,000 cases the surge in COVID-19 cases this year have been driven by
00:59four variants all of them from the Omicron family these are LF.7 XFGGN.21 and NB.1.8.1
01:11deaths have also increased it stands at roughly 50 since the beginning of this year including the
01:17death of a five-month-old baby with respiratory disorders so what is this wave how worried should
01:23you be what are the precautions to be taken we're answering all those questions for you on the show
01:29today I'm Sneha Murdani this is Healthy Sixteen
01:59all viruses including SARS-CoV-2 the virus that causes COVID-19 change over time most changes
02:09have little to no impact on the virus's properties some changes may affect the virus's properties such
02:15as how easily it spreads the associated disease severity or the performance of vaccines therapeutic
02:22medicines diagnostic tools or other public health and social measures hence we track these changes
02:28now in the month of June 2020 the World Health Organization's virus evolution working group
02:34was established with a specific focus on SARS-CoV-2 variants their phenotype and their impact on
02:40countermeasures this later became the technical advisory group on SARS-CoV-2 virus evolution in late
02:472020 the emergence of variants that pose an increased risk to global public health prompted the World Health
02:53Organization to characterize some as variants of interest and variants of concern in order to prioritize global
03:01monitoring and research and to inform and adjust the COVID-19 response well as of the most recent
03:08classifications of the WHO and Center for Disease Control and Prevention there have been five major SARS-CoV-2
03:15variants designated as variants of concern during the COVID-19 pandemic these variants were classified based
03:21on increased transmissibility severity and or reduced effectiveness of public health measures the five
03:29WHO designated variants of concern are as follows the first one is alpha b.1.1.1.7 first seen in the united kingdom in the month of
03:41september 2020 and designated the same in the month of december 2020 the second one was beta which is b.1.1.351
03:52first seen in south africa in the month of may 2020 and designated the same in the month of december again 2020
04:00gamma or p.1 first seen in brazil in the month of november 2020 and designated the same as a variant of concern by the
04:10the WHO in the month of january 2021 then delta which is b.1.617.2 first seen in india in the month of october 2020 remember this was the same
04:27variant of concern that caused widespread death and devastation in india it was designated as a voc in the month of may
04:342021 2021 then came omicron b.1.1.1.529 it was first seen in south africa boatswana in the month of november
04:482021 and it was designated as a variant of concern in the same month well as of 2024 2025 omicron and its
04:59sub-lineages like xbb ba.2.86 and jane.1 which is being seen in india right now remain the dominant
05:07globally circulating variants but the others are no longer active in circulation as of mid 2025 the
05:14omicron lineage remains the dominant variant of sars uv2 globally several sub-variants have emerged each
05:21with distinct characteristics which are these ones jane 0.1 ba 0.2 0.86 nb 0.1 0.8 0.1 and f lf 0.7 all of
05:35which which has been seen in india jane 0.1 is a sub-variant of the omicron lineage of the sars
05:43cov2 virus first detected in september 2023 well it has since spread to over 40 countries including india
05:52and was classified by the world health organization as a variant of interest due to its rapid global
05:59spread let's tell you a little more about the symptoms of jane 0.1 the symptoms associated with
06:06jane 0.1 are by to moderate and may include fever which is regularly seen in all covered
06:13infections a runny nose which can mimic something like a common cold a sore throat which again is
06:20very common headache that we've seen in many other variants as well cough fatigue and muscle weakness
06:29also loss of appetite gastrointestinal issues these symptoms typically improve within four to five days
06:39extreme fatigue characterized by overwhelming exhaustion is actually a notable symptom
06:46of jane 0.1 a lot of patients are reporting the same what about the severity and risk and that really
06:53is the moot question here given the kind of worry that covid has caused over the last five years or so
06:59the good news is that most cases of jane 0.1 are actually mild with less than 10 percent of cases
07:06becoming severe that's quite less particularly among older adults and individuals with pre-existing
07:13health conditions the overall fatality rate remains low and many patients recover at home itself
07:21the jane 0.1 variant has mutations in its spike protein and may allow it to partially escape the
07:27immunity developed from earlier infections well what does that really mean which means that your natural
07:34immunity is something that may not protect against this infection and maybe the immunity from
07:41vaccines also will not be protecting you to a great extent well it's been five years since the outbreak
07:48of the covid 19 pandemic it's still a pandemic it is though not a concern globally in the sense that
07:56the emergency associated with covid has ended officially last year however it continues to be a pandemic and as we
08:04know and as we've been seeing cases of covid in india and outside of india are also increasing not just
08:10cases deaths are increasing and deaths are being reported as well to talk about covid 19 and how it is
08:19alive and kicking this infection has not gone away is dr randeep kularia is joining us former director of
08:25ames he was always the voice of reason when we had just so many queries during the peak of the pandemic i'm
08:34going to thank you here for joining in dr gularia it's a pleasure to have you on the show once again thank you
08:40you know sir i want to begin by asking you uh you know what has really happened sir over a period of time that
08:47we've seen in just so many months where we didn't see a surge like this and we also did not see uh
08:54deaths you know that's in in in comorbid individuals that are now being reported what has changed all of
08:59a sudden in your opinion in the last few months i think it's very important for us to remember that
09:05forward virus over 19 sars co2 has not gone away it is still around but things have changed and from a
09:13pandemic situation we've become an endemic situation the virus is there the virus will continue to
09:18mutate and when it mutates it will change its character we saw it we had the alpha wave the
09:25beta delta and then the omicron wave and now the omicron some lineages are there uh that is causing
09:33the surge in the number of cases because whenever you have a new variant which comes in it has two things
09:38one is it becomes it develops an immune escape mechanism it can therefore escape the immunity
09:45that we have developed and therefore cause more infection okay you know i want to ask you know
09:50come to that in a moment from now but first a little about the variant in question here is the sublineage
09:55jn.1 which is of course from omicron i want to understand from you it does appear that it is more
10:01contagious than the other variants that emerged from omicron basically more contagious than its brothers and
10:07sisters essentially why so and also in a situation like this the vaccine that i took or everyone
10:14took essentially about two years ago or three years ago rather is that going to still offer some amount
10:20of immunity so the variants will keep changing and like i said they will try and become more
10:27infectious and this variant has also had some mutations and what we call the spike protein
10:32which leads it to becoming more infections it spreads more and over a period of time as happens
10:40when we don't have the infection for some time overall immunity in the population comes down a little
10:45bit and therefore the virus is able to spread more rapidly and that is what we're seeing with the new
10:50variant it is it is having the capacity to spread more rapidly because it's of the change that has
10:56happened the mutation that has happened and the community also there is a little bit of waning in your own
11:02immunity and that is contributing to this the wire the vaccine that we've taken will give us some
11:07protection uh it's not that's going to be as good as uh the protection that we had in the beginning
11:14when we were having the original strains because this the virus has changed significantly and therefore
11:20the effective efficacy of the vaccine has also come down a little bit because we are now uh taking the
11:26the back the vaccine that we took was against the older strain absolutely in that sense many would
11:33ask a lot of people had never taken the third dose of the vaccine so should people now go ahead and
11:39take the third dose that does that really make any sense no i don't think that makes any sense taking
11:45the third dose now because the dose that we have or the vaccine that we have covered the wuhan strain
11:50after the wuhan strain the original omicron the original strain we had the alpha beta delta the
11:56omicron and the current uh mutation is the sub lineage of the omicron strain therefore taking
12:02the older vaccine will not be that beneficial most of us have developed some degree of immunity because
12:07over the last two three years we have had mild kovic kovid and we therefore have probably developed
12:14some degree of immunity on our own okay you know should we be going ahead and taking the flu vaccine
12:21now it changes every year a lot of people take it mostly kids are being given but should like somebody
12:26like me senior citizens comorbid individuals should they just simply go ahead and take the
12:30influenza vaccine and do it every year year after year yes so i think the flu actually should be taken
12:37by everyone and especially the elderly and those with comorbidities influenza is the other viral
12:42infection which tends to circulate during this time of the year that is during the pre-monsoon and
12:48the monsoon months we do see a peak of influenza infection during this time of the year and that
12:53is also a respiratory viral infection these two viral infections are the one which usually cause a flu
12:59like syndrome that is fever cough cold and can cause a more serious illness in the older age group okay
13:05at the very outset you mentioned senior citizens so i want to ask you these are basic questions uh dr
13:10villari there are a lot of people are asking should senior citizens now make an effort to stay at home
13:16not venture out so i would say now we're seeing a surge of cases senior citizens should avoid going to
13:23crowded places or to places where there's a chance of getting the infection if they have to go to such
13:28a place it's they should wear a mask and follow covert appropriate behavior in terms of using a sanitizer
13:35washing your hands maintaining a physical distance but if they if they can avoid going to a crowded
13:41place i think that is better especially if it's an indoor crowded place because there the spread of
13:46infection can be more rapid and since we have a variant which is more infectious they need to be
13:52more careful because they are a little higher risk of developing more severe infection so i'm also
13:57presuming this applies to even individuals were comorbid isn't it that the same rule applies to them
14:01correct so if you have underlying comorbidities then you should also and especially if your
14:07comorbidity is not under good control if your diabetes is not under good control you're on or
14:12you have other chronic diseases like you have you're on immunosuppressive drugs or you're taking
14:17chemotherapy i think you should not go to such places okay return of the mask the n95 mask should
14:24everybody start wearing them in closed settings like should i wear it in my office and what about senior
14:29citizens and comorbid people when should they be wearing at all times or only when they're going
14:34to crowded places and stepping out so if you're inside and you're in an environment where you're
14:40you're just your family members are there and none of them have flu-like symptoms that is fever cough and
14:44cold i don't think then you need to wear a mask but if you're going out to a place where you're
14:49meeting people and you and some of them may be coughing or having a cold it may be worthwhile
14:55especially for the elderly and the high-risk group to wear a mask i don't think everyone needs to
15:00wear a mask because in the younger age group the current trend that we're seeing it's still a mild
15:07illness and just a flu-like illness most people have fever cough and they become all right many of
15:12them don't get themselves tested also if you test many of them would be covid positive but they've
15:18recovered on their own with just symptomatic treatment okay okay so essentially in an office setting
15:23just yet closed doors everything is closed we have a central air conditioning no need to wear a mask
15:29is what you're saying at this point in time yes and but if you have comorbidities if you're in the
15:34high-risk group okay a safer option would be to wear a mask and use a hand sanitizer what about those face
15:40shields you know uh are they of any use at all should people wear them say uh comorbidities we don't
15:46have that type of situation that we had in the pandemic i don't think we need to really
15:51uh go there right you know dr galeria monsoons and the link with covet 19 what is the connection
15:58we see an increase in maharashtra in kerala these places are receiving heavy rainfall is there a link
16:04now between the rains and the infection so if you look at data which we have from influenza it shows that
16:10in in india unlike say contemporary areas like the us or in in europe in tropical countries the
16:18by respiratory viral infection especially the data is from influenza tends to peak during the monsoon
16:23months and in india except for one area that is shirinagar where you get the influenza only during
16:30the winter months or in other parts of our country we see a monsoon peak which follows the monsoon months
16:36so it starts in may or april may in kerala and western part of india it then goes the peaks during
16:44the monsoon months in north india and in chennai and eastern part of india actually peaks during
16:49october november when there the monsoon is receding and going from that side in the northern part of
16:54india we also see a peak during the winter months in delhi so we see two peaks in northern india monsoon
17:01but in the rest of the country especially southern part it definitely follows the viral respiratory
17:06viral infection tends to follow the monsoon okay okay so there is a link clearly is what you're saying
17:12because at the end of the day this is a viral infection isn't it correct okay you know someone
17:18is experiencing cold and cough uh they could just be under the weather in general should they be
17:23getting tested now should everybody be rushing for these tests who should be going for it what what's
17:28the basic guideline that you'd like to share on that so if you are if you're not in the high risk
17:34group and you're not elderly just a fever coughing cold i think just symptomatic treatment is what you
17:40don't need to get worried and unless your fever is persisting for a longer time it's causing its
17:45high grade fever then it may be worthwhile otherwise for mild illness there's no need to get tested for
17:51the elderly and those who have poor morbidity if they have fever cough and cold and they're feeling
17:55a little breathless or they have some low respiratory tract symptoms like cough with sputum production
18:01breathlessness chest tightness they should get themselves tested and the reason for that is not only to
18:06know whether they have covid but to really look at what we can do for example this can be because of
18:11influenza and this can be because of covid if it is because of influenza then you have a separate
18:16antiviral available you can give oseltamivir or tamiflu if it is because of covid then you have
18:22separate antiviral drugs available for covid now and you can give those drugs to these people as
18:27antiviral drugs which will help them in terms of decreasing the viral load and better sort of
18:33recovery as far as the illness is concerned okay so basically it's just to help the patient you know
18:38giving the patient the right medicine and that's why getting tested is important okay now i want to
18:43ask you uh a healthy individual say i tomorrow if i'm not feeling well uh you know just by way of
18:50precaution should i not expose myself to others around me in a closed setting particularly should i
18:56should i be you know calling in sick so if you have a flu like similar you have fever cough cold
19:02you're sneezing you're coughing and that's true even for children i think then they should stay at
19:08home and not go out because then you can spread the infection to others and it's well known that
19:13children who either go to school or to a play school uh they they are coughing they will give it to
19:19other children these children will then carry the infection to their homes and give it to the elderly or the
19:24higher risk group at home so to break that chain it's important that everyone who has fever cough
19:30and cold uh isolates himself so that they don't spread the infection in the community okay i was
19:36just coming to that you know isolation because everybody is afraid of isolation certainly i am
19:40if i get tested positive for covet 19 that rule remains the same i must isolate at least for a couple
19:46of days and how many days would that be there so at least for five days and i think it's important
19:52so that you don't spread the infection to other family members and to your friends who come in
19:56contact with you so it's really to protect them especially if they have comorbidities or they're
20:01at risk for getting a more severe infection dr galeria would you expect cases to increase in the next
20:08few days is that a suspicion we would we expect so i think we will gradually have some for the next
20:13few days there may be a slight increase in the number of cases it will then plateau off and come down
20:18uh but i don't think it's still a cause of concern this is being closely monitored by the who in india
20:24by icmr and whatever data we have as of now clearly suggest that it's a mild illness it's a omicron
20:31variant which is causing only a mild illness those with higher risk group definitely are the ones who
20:36we need to watch out for because they can get a more severe illness because of their old age or
20:41poor morbidities but otherwise for the population at large it's still a mild illness thank you so much for
20:46joining in as always sharing your views with us it's uh it's a pleasure having you like i said thank
20:51you so much sir thank you thank you joining us right now is dr arjun dang he is the ceo of dr dang's
21:00labs thank you so much for your time the reason why we are connecting with you today is because once
21:05again covid is raised it's ugly head you know i want to begin by asking you talk to us a little about
21:11the kind of increase that you know testing has seen over the last few weeks or so given that many
21:18people are now you know falling sick and of course they would want to find out whether it's covid or
21:24whether it's you know the regular flu of course unfortunately we have seen uh resurgence in the
21:31covid cases again and of course with that come um pressure and more requests also for the particular
21:38test now i think this phenomenon has been around since about close to 10 to 12 days and before that
21:44if you look at our data of may there were very few tests that we were performing and also getting
21:49requests for but there has been a recent surge and of course the rt pcr test that is the gold standard is
21:56what is currently being asked for by the symptomatic people you know i want to ask you you did mention
22:03that there are variants that are more virulent which are being seen in certain states you know talk
22:08to us about what your assessment of the situation is vis-a-vis the more transmissible variants of course
22:14so currently when we speak about the various variants um there are broadly four in circulation right now
22:20and of course the one that has got the maximum attention is the jn1 variant that has been seen to be
22:26maximum in circulation apart from this we've also seen nb 181 lf7 and xfg also out of these jn1 is has
22:37been uh called a way i called as a variant under monitoring by the who and currently even the
22:44symptoms and the signs that we are seeing in patients are again blue like and also fortunately
22:50a majority of the cases that we've seen are also recovering within a few days this is probably because
22:56of the previous immunity that they have and also because this particular variant is not seen to be
23:02as severe but then again from a transmissibility perspective we are seeing that it is easily
23:08transmissible thank you dr thank you what exactly is disease x is it already here and could it trigger
23:17the next global pandemic while disease x isn't a specific virus it's a warning sign the world health
23:24organization coined the term in 2018 to represent an unknown hypothetical pathogen one with the
23:31potential to trigger a serious global outbreak well it's not science fiction it's actually a symbol of
23:37preparedness a call to arms for scientists health leaders and governments to brace for the unknown
23:46so why does this matter why does the conversation around disease x matter
23:50because covid 19 was the first real world example of what disease x could look like a virus no one saw
24:00coming a pandemic that changed the world why does the world fear disease x well it does so because
24:08it represents what we do not know it's an unknown enemy it could be a zoonotic virus jumping from animals to
24:15humans a lab created threat via synthetic biology a drug resistant pathogen that no medicine can treat
24:23so what will be the world health organization's strategy it's ideally going to be developing broad
24:30spectrum antivirals invest in rapid response platforms like the mrna platform like the mrna vaccine that was
24:38also developed during covid 19 build stronger epidemic surveillance and infrastructure the question is
24:46are we seeing signs of disease x surfacing in 2025 yes and no disease x hasn't arrived thankfully but the
24:57world is on high alert as major outbreaks have been seen what are these outbreaks it's not just covid 19 in
25:04continuum it's things like measles which is back with 370 cases in the u.s alone more across canada and
25:12europe mosquito-borne diseases like dengue and malaria which is spiking in newer regions where they were
25:18never seen before because of climate change tick-borne illnesses have surged over 200 percent in places like
25:26long island thanks to warmer winters again climate change we can't look away from it and of course covid 19 which
25:33is mutating year after year literally month after month there's so many mutating viruses as far as
25:41covid 19 is concerned variants of concern which have been mutating over a period of time like nb 0.1
25:480.8 0.1 which are pushing up cases across southeast asia and india our country like we've seen the truth is
25:57the fact is we may not know the next name of the pandemic the disease x reminds us that we can be
26:05ready for it at least make an attempt to be ready for what could possibly be our reality well that brings
26:14us to the end of this edition of health 360 we hope we could answer all your queries related to the
26:20infection and the do's and don'ts watch this phase for more stories around the pandemic health wellness
26:26and fitness as always that's india today's digital platforms are carrying all these reports youtube
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26:54thank you