Letter.

Letter Published in The National UAE on29 Dec 23 A new variant of Covid-19 necessitates precautions With reference to Bibhudatta Pradhan's report India detects JN.1 Covid variant in Kerala as case numbers rise (December 19): This was an alarming read. More than two and half years after the entire planet was threatened by the coronavirus, and after the great relief of it being finally behind us, the news of resurgent variants seems ominous. My home state of Karnataka, which has a southern border with Kerala, has taken precautionary measures that provide relief to citizens such as myself. People of all ages should be careful but senior citizens especially should wear masks wherever they go just to be safe. It used to be part of our daily drill when stepping out two years ago. There's no harm in taking extra precautions. Such measures are more beneficial as people in winter are quite often down with the usual coughs and colds. The slight inconvenience of wearing a mask while commuting or travelling is worth the trouble when you think of the consequences of not wearing one. K Ragavan, Bengaluru, India