Tunis/Tunisia — "The first infection case with the new COVID-19 JN.1 strain has just been logged in Tunisia from 60 samples at the Charles Nicolle Hospital in Tunis and the National Pharmacovigilance Centre (CNPV)," CNPV Director General and member of the Scientific Committee to Combat Coronavirus Riadh Daghfous said on Wednesday.

The detection of this strain in Tunisia has been expected as it represents 75% of the most prevalent strains currently found in France and in several European countries and and which is spreading swiftly, he told TAP.

However, Daghfous pointed out that the strain's symptoms (fever, cough, runny nose, diarrea, asthenia and headache) ara not serious and do not give cause for concern.

He reiterated the need to take preventive measures to contain the spread of this variant.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) classified the JN.1 strain as a variant of interest (VOI) as its prevalence has been rapidly increasing globally, hence, additional studies would be needed to further assess the impact of this variant.

However, public health risk posed by JN.1 is currently evaluated as low at the global level, the WHO added.