The B.1.617 variant of the coronavirus has not only become the most dominant within India but also in several other nations. The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday said that the highly-transmittable double mutant variant has now officially been recorded in 53 territories. A month ago, it was found in 44 countries across the world.
Additionally, according to media reports, the WHO has received information from unofficial sources that the B.1.617 variant has been found in seven other territories, figures in the UN health agency’s weekly epidemiological update showed, taking the total to 60.
The report said B.1.617 had shown increased transmissibility, while disease severity and risk of infection were under investigation.
Globally over the past week, the number of new cases and deaths continued to decrease, with around 4.1 million new cases and 84,000 new deaths reported — a 14 per cent and two per cent decrease respectively, compared to the previous week.
“Despite a declining global trend over the past four weeks, incidence of Covid-19 cases and deaths remain high, and substantial increases have been observed in many countries throughout the world,” the document said.
The highest numbers of new cases in the past seven days were reported from India (1,846,055 -- down 23 percent); Brazil (451,424, up three per cent); Argentina (213,046, up 41 per cent), the United States (188,410, down 20 per cent), and Colombia (107,590, down seven percent).
The update gave information on the four mutations classed as variants of concern: those first reported in Britain (B.1.1.7), South Africa (B.1.351), Brazil (P.1) and India (B.1.617).
When counting up the total number of territories reporting each variant, the WHO added together those from which it had official and unofficial information. B.1.1.7 has now been reported in 149 territories; B.1.351 in 102 territories and P.1 in 59 territories.
The WHO split up figures for the B.1.617 variant into three lineages (B.1.617.1, B.1.617.2 and B.1.617.3).
The first has been reported in a total of 41 territories, the second in 54 and the third in six: Britain, Canada, Germany, India, Russia and the United States. Together, lineages of the B.1.617 variant were officially recorded in 53 territories and unofficially in another seven, said the reports.
