Geneva: The World Health Organization (WHO) has stated that solely one strain of the COVID-19 Delta variant, detected in India first, is now of concern, including that two different strains have been downgraded.
Since it is break up into three lineages, the B.1.617 variant of the virus, which was blamed for an enormous coronavirus outbreak in India, has been dubbed a triple mutant variant.
It has renamed the B.1.617.2 variant of the coronavirus, first recognized in India, because the `Delta variant`. In a press release, the WHO stated that it convened an knowledgeable group that beneficial utilizing easy-to-pronounce and non-stigmatising labels for Variants of Interest (VOIs) and Variants of Concern (VOC).
The group beneficial utilizing letters of the Greek Alphabet – Alpha, Beta, Gamma, which shall be simpler and extra sensible to mentioned by non-scientific audiences.
Apart from the B.1.617.2 variant, the B.1.1.7 strain first recognized in the United Kingdom has been recognized as `Alpha variant`. The VOCs that had been recognized in South Africa and Brazil have been named `Beta` and `Gamma` respectively.
As for VOIs recognized in the United States, Brazil, Philippines and different international locations, the WHO has used nomenclature like `Epsilon`, `Zeta`, `Iota`, `Theta` and extra.
The B.1.617.1 strain, additionally first recognized in India, has been named as `Kappa variant`. The B.1.617.2 variant of COVID-19 is believed to have led to a devastating second wave of the pandemic in India, crippling healthcare infrastructure in the nation and ensuing in hundreds of deaths daily.
On May 15, England`s Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty stated that the B.1.617.2 variant of COVID-19, first recognized in India, is prone to take over and dominate in the UK.
The WHO earlier this month knowledgeable that the B.1.617 variant of COVID-19, first discovered in India in October final yr, had been detected in sequences uploaded “from more than 40 countries in all six WHO regions”.
The coronavirus variant, first recognized in India final yr, has been categorized as a “variant of global concern”, with some preliminary research exhibiting that it spreads extra simply, a senior WHO official knowledgeable. It is the fourth variant to be designated as being of “global concern”. The WHO additionally revealed that the variant has three sub-lineages.
“Our team has been discussing with our virus evolution group. Everything we know about it in terms of transferability, studies that are being done, in India as well as in other countries where this virus is circulating. It is important to note that B.1.617 has three sub-lineages- .1, .2, .3,” Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, Technical lead COVID-19 at WHO.
(With Agency Inputs)
