Hyderabad: Has the COVID-19 era ended? A health expert from the city and Indian Medical Association (IMA) Scientific Committee Convener Dr Kiran Madhala on Sunday said that with the JN.1 variant, this is the end of COVID-19 era from Alpha to JN.1 from a period of 2019 to 2025.

According to Dr Kiran Madhala, COVID-19 has effectively transitioned into an endemic phase, as clearly reflected in the evolving pattern of SARS-CoV-2 variants across different countries. Up until the emergence of JN.1, there was a relatively uniform global pattern in variant circulation.

However, post-JN.1, this trend has shifted, with each country now demonstrating distinct evolutionary trajectories.

Dr Kiran said that India has shown progression toward the XEG lineage, emerging via JF.7. Singapore, on the other hand, has evolved towards NB.1.8.1, a descendant of XDV. Notably, although India reported its first NB.1.8.1 case in April 2025, the variant has not gained significant prevalence within the country. This divergence marks a clear departure from the previously observed global uniformity, indicating that COVID-19 variant evolution has become geographically localised, a hallmark of an endemic infection, said Dr Kiran Madhala.

Dr Kiran said that the XFG variant, derived from LF.7 and LP.8.1.2, harbours four key spike protein mutations including H445R, N487D, Q493E, and T572I. It has demonstrated a rapid global dissemination since its initial detection in Canada. LF.7.9 and XFG exhibit significantly reduced RBD-ACE2 binding affinity, primarily due to the A475V (in LF.7.9) and N487D (in XFG) mutations. These mutations contribute to lower receptor engagement efficiency. The XFG variant shows high immune evasion potential, raising concerns about vaccine and antibody efficacy. XFG and LF.7 have evolved from the Omicron lineage, following the trajectory- Omicron BA.2 → BA.2.86 → JN.1 → JN.1.16.1 → LF.7 → XFG. LF7 and XFG are likely to be designated as variants under monitoring with low grade infection, said Dr Kiran.