INDIAN COVID VARIANT FOUND IN AT LEAST 17 COUNTRIES : WHO

 

Article by Megha Goyal

The World Health Organization said Tuesday that a variant of COVID-19 feared to be contributing to a surge in coronavirus cases in India has been found in over a dozen countries.

 The WHO recently listed B.1.617 — which counts several sub-lineages with slightly different mutations and characteristics — as a "variant of interest".India is facing surging new cases and deaths in the pandemic, and fears are rising that the variant could be contributing to the unfolding catastrophe.

 The explosion in infections in India — 350,000 new cases were recorded there on Tuesday alone — has driven a surge in global cases to 147.7 million. The virus has now killed more than 3.1 million people worldwide.

 By the time WHO declares - Indian Variant as " Variant of Concern".

It may devastating effect on other countries. Viruses mutate all the time, resulting in millions and millions of new variants. However, what has made scientists worry about B.1.617 is the presence of three mutations, E484Q, L452R and P6814 – the reason why some are now referring to it as a “triple mutant” variant.