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The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified the B.1.617 coronavirus variant discovered in India as alarming. There is evidence that B.1.617 is more contagious as well as resistant to some degree to vaccines, WHO corona expert Maria Van Kerkhove said Monday in Geneva. “Therefore, we classify it as a variant of concern.”
Earlier, preliminary study results had suggested that B.1.617 was spreading faster than other Corona variants circulating in India. However, the WHO previously considered the mutant only “of interest.” The virus that triggered the global Corona pandemic has already undergone thousands of mutations, some more worrisome than others. India first reported the appearance of genome B.1.617 to the Global Initiative for Sharing All Influenza Data (Gisaid) sequence database in October 2020.
The country of 1.36 billion is currently experiencing a fierce second Corona wave. The healthcare system is completely overloaded. There are repeated reports of deaths due to lack of oxygen in clinics. Germany and other countries have now sent emergency aid.
- source: Austrian Press Agency/picture: pixabay.com
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