GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 29th April. According to the WHO, 57 million cases of corona infection have been reported in the last week all over the world. Meanwhile, the ‘Indian Variant of the corona virus, known as B.1.617 or ‘twice mutated type’, has been found in at least 17 countries.
On Tuesday, the United Nations Health Agency said in its weekly pandemic information that the B1.617 type or ‘Indian type’ of SARS-COV-2 is believed to be the cause of rising corona virus cases in India which is specified by WHO as Variants of Interest-VOI.
The agency said that as of April 27, about 1,200 sequences had been uploaded to GISAID and stated the genealogy B1.617 to be found in at least 17 countries. GISAID is a global science initiative and primary source established in 2008 that provides open access to genome data for influenza viruses and corona virus responsible for COVID-19 global epidemics. The agency stated that emerging types of SARS-COV-2 within the Pango lineage B.1.617 were recently reported as a VOI from India and WHO has recently designated it as a VOI. The WHO said that studies have emphasized that the spread of the second wave is much faster than the spread of the first wave in India.
The World Health Body’s report stated that the initial impersonation by WHO based on the sequences assigned to GISAID revealed that B.1.617 is developing at a faster rate than other types transmitted in India, which is probably more contagious, as well other types of viruses being transmitted are also becoming more contagious.
The WHO said that other factors include challenges related to the implementation and observance of public health and social measures, social gatherings (cultural and religious festivals and elections etc.). Further investigation needs to be done to understand the role of these factors.
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