Indian Covid variant detected in 44 countries so far, says WHO

SHILLONG:

The COVID variant B.1.617, which was first discovered in Maharashtra in October, has now spread to at least 44 other countries, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Wednesday in its weekly update on the pandemic. 

"As of May 11, over 4500 sequences have been uploaded to GISAID (database) and assigned to B.1.617 from 44 different countries in all six WHO regions," said WHO.

The report also mentioned that there have been cases of detection of the strain in five additional countries as well.

Initial studies of the B.1.617 strain have shown that it can transmit and spread between people more easily. It has been classified as a "variant of concern" by the WHO and work on getting all the information about the strain is underway at the organisation.

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