WHO Declares India’s Covid Mutant as a ‘Global Concern’

WHO Declares India’s Covid Mutant as a ‘Global Concern’

WHO Declares India’s Covid Mutant as a ‘Global Concern’ Credit: Pixabay

WHO Declares India’s Covid Mutant as a ‘Global Concern’.

The World Health Organisation, WHO declares India’s Covid double mutant variant as a ‘Global Concern’.

The B.1.617 variant discovered in India has now become the fourth variant be classed as a global concern. The variant was first found last year in India and initial studies prove that it has some resistance to vaccines and also has “increased transmissibility”.

Tragically in India the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic has claimed over 2 million lives and the number of active cases in the country continues to soar. According to reports the Indian variant has now spread to other countries despite travel restrictions being placed on India by many nations.

The WHO’s director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus spoke of the “Together for India” appeal which was launched by the WHO foundation. The appeal aims to raise funds in order to provide PPE for health workers and to provide much-needed money to purchase both medicines and oxygen in India.

So far only four variants are classified by the WHO “as being of global concern. The other variants included those identified in Britain, South Africa, and Brazil” as reported The Independent.

WHO Coronavirus technical lead, Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, spoke of the variant on Monday and explained that, “We are classifying this as a variant of concern at a global level. There is some available information to suggest increased transmissibility.”

“We need much more information about this virus variant in this lineage, so we need more targeted sequencing to be done, and to be shared in India and elsewhere so that we know how much of this virus is circulating,”

The expert spoke of preventing virus transmission and explained that, “We need to make sure that we take all of the measures at hand to prevent ourselves from getting sick.”

“It’s the individual-level measures, all of the measures that are at hand and ensuring that governments provide a supportive and an enabling environment so that we can carry out measures that can keep us safe.”

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Alex
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Alex Glenn

Originally from the UK, Alex is based in Almeria and is a web reporter for The Euro Weekly News covering international and Spanish national news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com.

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