Noida Reports First COVID-19 Case: 55-Year-Old Woman Tests Positive
Noida reported its first case of COVID-19 on Saturday after a 55-year-old woman tested positive for the infection. According to officials, the woman has been placed under home quarantine after she tested positive for Coronavirus. She had a recent history of travel by train. The samples of her family members have been sent for testing, they added.
The chief medical officer of Gautam Budh Nagar district, Narendra Kumar, told PTI, 'The woman, who is under home quarantine, travelled on a train on May 14. Samples of her family members have been collected and sent for testing.'
'The administration is geared up to deal with the situation. We urge people not to panic and follow the safety protocols, including wearing face masks and hand sanitisation,' he added.
India has detected new COVID-19 variants, including NB.1.8.1 and LF.7, amid rising cases in South Asia, with JN.1 being the most prevalent, according to the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG). Sharing the data, INSACOG said that one case of NB.1.8.1 was identified in April in Tamil Nadu and four cases of LF.7 were detected in Gujarat in May. On the other hand, JN.1 comprises 53 per cent of samples tested, followed by BA.2 (26 per cent) and other Omicron sublineages (20 per cent).
As of May 19, the country had 257 active COVID cases, with most infections being detected in Kerala, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu.
The JN.1 strain is a close relative of BA.2.86 (informally referred to as 'Pirola'), a lineage of the Omicron variant, according to Yale Medicine. As of May 2025, the World Health Organization (WHO) classifies LF.7 and NB.1.8 subvariants as Variants Under Monitoring, not as Variants of Concern or Variants of Interest. But these are the variants that are reportedly driving the rise in COVID cases in China and parts of Asia.
Though WHO's preliminary risk assessment classifies NB.1.8.1 as posing a low public health risk globally, its spike protein mutations such as A435S, V445H, and T478I suggest increased transmissibility and immune evasion compared to other variants.
