WHO Classifies India’s COVID-19 Variant as a, Global Health Threat.
India has averaged about 391,000 new
cases of COVID-19 per day for the past seven days.
On May 10, an official from the World Health Organization
(WHO), Maria Van Kerkhove, spoke about the country's COVID-19 variant, B.1.617.
B.1.617 was previously labeled as a “variant of interest.”.
But Van Kerkhove revealed that the WHO
was reclassifying it as a “variant of concern.” .
She also said that preliminary studies on
B.1.617 have indicated that it transmits easier
and may be able to evade vaccines. .
The agency is expected to provide more details
on the reclassification in the coming days.
As such we are classifying this as a variant
of concern at the global level … Even though
there is increased transmissibility
demonstrated by some preliminary studies,
we need much more information about this
virus variant in this lineage in all of the sub
lineages, so we need more sequencing,
targeted sequencing to be done, Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s Technical
Lead for COVID-19, via CNBC.
The variant’s new label means it has been
shown to be more contagious, more deadly and more resistant
to available vaccines and treatments. .
The U.K., South Africa and Brazil variants are all also
designated as “of concern” by the WHO