India recorded 529 fresh Covid-19 cases and five deaths in 24 hours while the new Covid sub-variant JN.1, which was first detected in Kerala on December 8, has spread to nine states with Delhi recording its first case of the new variant on Wednesday.The health ministry said India recorded 529 fresh Covid cases in 24 hours and three deaths — two from Karnataka & one from Gujarat — in a span of 24 hours till 8am on Wednesday. Later, two more Covid-19 deaths were confirmed from Maharashtra, marking the first confirmed fatalities in the state in over three months.The state also witnessed a notable surge in new cases, with 87 infections recorded on Wednesday, more than double the count from Tuesday’s 37. In all, 110 cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed to have been caused by JN.1 in the country so far, according to data by the Indian SARS-CoV2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG), a network of genomic laboratories that has been monitoring Covid-19 from genomic perspectiveGujarat has the maximum number of 36 JN.1 cases detected so far, followed by Karnataka (34), Goa (14), Maharashtra (9), Kerala (6), Rajasthan (4), Tamil Nadu (4), Telangana (2) and Delhi (1).Health ministry officials said though cases have gone up, cases of hospitalisations are few as symptoms are mild in most cases.“The deaths were attributed to Covid-19 people with pre-existing co-morbidities,” said an official.JN.1 (BA.2.86.1.1) is a descendant of BA.2.86 lineage (Pirola) of SARS-CoV-2 which was first identified in August and reports suggest it carried significant mutations that may contribute to increased transmissibility and immune-escape ability, said experts.