WHO - Only One Strain of Covid-19 Variant in India is Now "Of Concern"

    02-Jun-2021   
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WHO declared last month that the whole strain is a "variant of concern" or VOC. But on Tuesday, it said only one of the sub-lineages should be given the label.
 
On Tuesday, the WHO said that only one strain of Covid-19 Delta variant first detected in India was now considered to be "of concern", while two other strains have been downgraded. The B.1.617 variant of the virus, (blamed for explosive outbreak in India) has been called a triple mutant variant, since it is split into 3 more families.
 
Last month, the UN health agency said that the whole strain a "variant of concern" or VOC, but on Tuesday, it said only one of the sub-lineages should be given the label.
 
The WHO said in an update regarding the pandemic that, "It has become evident that greater public health risks are currently associated with B.1.617.2, while lower rates of transmission of other lineages have been observed.” While the B.1.617.2 variant remains a VOC, along with 3 more other variants of the virus that are more dangerous than their original version as they’re more transmissible & deadly or could get past certain vaccine protections.
 
Agreeing with a decision announced on Monday to be referring to variants with Greek letters, the variant has now been dubbed as Delta.
  
UN agency said that, "We continue to observe significantly increased transmissibility and a growing number of countries reporting outbreaks associated with this variant. Further studies into the impact of this variant remain a high priority for WHO." On Saturday, Vietnam’s health authorities announced that a new hybrid variant appears to be a just like a variation of Delta.
 
The B.1.617.1 sub-lineage has meanwhile been downgraded to a "variant of interest," and called Kappa. WHO said the B.1.617.3 is now not even considered of interest, since "relatively few reports of this variant have been submitted to date.”