Ahmedabad, May 22 -- Gujarat has recorded 15 new coronavirus cases after a long gap, with officials urging people not to panic as the present variant is less severe.

All the patients are being treated at home, they said.

Dr Nilam Patel, additional director (public health), said Gujarat currently has 15 active cases of JN.1 variant of COVID-19. The variant comes from the Omicron family, first discovered in August 2023, he said.

"Of the active cases in Gujarat, 13 are in Ahmedabad city and one each is in Rajkot city and Ahmedabad rural. These cases are of the Omicron JN.1 variant, which is less severe. It is not a matter of great concern for Gujarat or India at this point," Patel told reporters in Gandhinagar.

He said thousands of cases...