The new strain or double mutant of Coronavirus, which has triggered a massive upsurge in the Covid-19 cases in India, has been detected in over a dozen countries, the World Health Organisation said on Wednesday. In a statement, the WHO said apart from India, this double mutant strain was majorly found in the United Kingdom, USA, and Singapore.
What is the WHO’s weekly update on Covid?
The WHO said in its weekly epidemiological update on the Covid-19 pandemic that most sequences were uploaded from India, the United Kingdom, USA and Singapore. As of April 27, over 1,200 sequences have been uploaded to GISAID and assigned to lineage B.1.617 from at least 17 countries. It also said the B.1.617 variant of SARS-CoV2 or the Indian strain feared to be contributing to a surge in coronavirus cases in India, has been designated as the Variants of Interest (VOI) by the WHO. The WHO study suggested that the spread of the second wave has been much faster than the first in India.
The WHO report said the B.1.617 variant comprises several sub-lineages, including B.1.617.1, B.1.617.2 and B.1.617.3, which slightly differ by their characteristic mutations. Both B.1.617.1 and B.1.617.2 were first identified in India in December 2020, and have been detected at increasing prevalence concurrent to the major upsurge observed in the country. B.1.617.3 was first detected in India in October 2020, but relatively fewer viruses matching this sub-lineage have been reported to date, the report said.
What the WHO suggest?
The agency also said that the thorough investigation is needed to understand the relative contribution of these factors. The WHO also underlined that further robust studies into the attributes of B.1.617 and other variants, comprising impacts on transmissibility, risk, and severity of reinfection, were urgently needed.
Speaking at the webinar on genome sequencing last week, the Director of the National Centre for Disease Control, Sujeet Singh said in many cities in Maharashtra – the worst-hit state in India – the B.1.617 variant was found in more than 50% of samples on which genome sequencing was conducted.
What is the death trend?
The number of new deaths increased for the sixth consecutive week, with over 87,000 new deaths reported. For the third consecutive week, the South-East Asia region reported the highest relative increases in both case and death incidences. While a number of countries in the region are reporting upward trends, India accounts for the vast majority of cases from this regional trend and 38 per cent of global cases reported in the past week.
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With 52 per cent increase, India has reported the highest number of new cases (21,72,063) followed by the US (406,001 new cases; 15 per cent decrease), Brazil (404,623 new cases; 12 per cent decrease), Turkey (378,771 new cases; 9 per cent decrease), and France (211,674 new cases; 9 per cent decrease).