The World Health Organization (WHO) officially labeled the strain of COVID-19 wreaking havoc in India as a “variant of concern” at a press briefing as estimates of new cases amount to over 366,000.
“The pattern now is that one person in the family gets it, the whole family seems to get it. This is unlike the first wave. And so I think what we’re seeing is more transmissible,” the WHO scientist Soumya Swaminathan told The Wall Street Journal.
The WHO initially classified India’s B.1.617 variant as a “variant of interest,” but elevating it to a “variant of concern” indicates it is more contagious, causes more severe illness, and is more resistant to preventive measures, vaccines or therapeutics, according to the Beckers Hospital Review.
The WHO also issued a followup statement after the news conference because some media outlets were misinterpreting information about the strain evading vaccine protection.
The WHO followup statement reads: “COVID-19 vaccines remain effective at preventing disease and death in people infected with this variant,” based on current data.
“We don’t have anything to suggest that our diagnostics, our therapeutics, and our vaccines don’t work,” said Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, a Covid-19 technical lead at the WHO during the media briefing on Monday.
As of May 11, according to Johns Hopkins University, India has recorded 22,992,517 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 249,992 deaths, although the actual numbers may be higher. The country’s most recent surge began in mid-April and cases have continually increased since that time.
A closer look at India’s variant
A few weeks ago, several COVID-19 variants were popping up in differennt regions in India, thought to be causing a surge in cases. Genomic data indicated that B.1.1.7, first identified in the United Kingdom, was dominant in Delhi and the state of Punjab, and a new variant dubbed B.1.618 was present in West Bengal, while B.1.617 was dominant in Maharashtra.
More recently, the B.1.617 variant has become the leading variant is many Indian states and is the leading variant in Delhi. “In some states, the surge can be tied to 617,” Sujeet Singh, director of the National Centre for Disease Control, based in New Delhi, told journalists on 5 May.
Lineage B.1.617+, also known as G/452.V3, is one of the known variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. It was first identified in Maharashtra, India on October 5, 2020. It has been referred to as a “double mutation” variant, referencing the mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein’s coding sequence at E484Q and L452R.
Actually, the B.1.617 genome has 13 mutations which produce alterations in its coding. There are three of particular concern – all of them being in the spike protein code. Besides E484Q and L452R, we can add P681R.
There are also three sublineages of B.1.617, which have some differences in their exact mutations. For example, B.1.617.1 and B.1.617.3 have the E484Q mutation, but B.1.617.2 does not.
Because SARS-CoV-2 is in a state of perpetual mutation with numerous mutations occurring around the world, infectious disease scientists have criticized the use of the term “double mutation” because it is misleading.
In other countries, the first cases of the B.1.617 variant were detected in late February 2021, including the United Kingdom on Feb. 22, the United States on Feb. 23, and Singapore on Feb, 26. Canada’s first confirmed case of the variant showed up in Quebec on April 21, and later the very same day, 39 cases of the variant were identified in British Columbia.
According to Gisaid, a platform where countries can share data on viruses, the B.1.617 strain from India has now been detected in about 40 countries. As of May 11, 2021, 1,815 sequences of the B.1.617 variant had been detected in 29 countries.
