The double mutant Covid variant “B1617”, which was first detected in India, has spread to at least 17 countries, said the World Health Organization (WHO).
The B1617 variant was first detected in India on December 1, 2020. It contains mutations from two separate virus variants — E484Q and L452R. The variant is partly held responsible for the second and massive resurgence of coronavirus in the country.
Up till April 27, B1617 variant had been detected in over 1,200 sequences uploaded on the open-access database GISAID (the Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Influenza Data) “from at least 17 countries”, the global health agency said in its weekly epidemiological update on the pandemic. Most sequences were uploaded from India, the UK, US and Singapore.
The WHO recently listed B1617 — which counts several sub-lineages with slightly different mutations and characteristics — as a “variant of interest”. But so far, it has stopped short of declaring it a “variant of concern”.
That label would indicate that it is more dangerous that the original version of the virus by for instance being more transmissible, deadly or able to dodge vaccine protections.
Globally, new Covid-19 cases increased for the ninth consecutive week, with nearly 5.7 million new cases reported in the last week — surpassing previous peaks, the WHO update said. India accounts for “38% of global cases reported in the past week,” the report noted.
