India's B.1.617 variant of coronavirus becomes a global concern
Premium- WHO said there is some available information to suggest increased transmissibility and the apex global public health agency is closely following the strain
As the World Health Organization (WHO) has classified B.1.617 variant of coronavirus that was firstly reported from India --as a variant of concern-- the country has aggressively initiated clinical studies to ascertain if the strain is behind the exponential surge of fresh covid-19 cases.
The Indian Council of Medical Research has said that variant is highly transmissible but if it its virulent enough to cause a rapid surge in covid-19 cases is not sure. “The variant was firstly reported from India but it was simultaneously also reported in other parts of the world. It may be highly transmissible, but there is no clinical data to show that it highly virulent. Epidemiological studies show that it is transmissible but we need to conduct more studies to prove its virulence and causative of the rise in covid-19 numbers," said Dr Samiran Panda, head, epidemiology and communicable diseases, ICMR. He added that the covaxin can neutralise the B1617 variant.
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The WHO on Monday said there is some available information to suggest increased transmissibility and the apex global public health agency is closely following the strain.
“There are a number of investigations going on now on the B1617 variant that are looking at the transmissibility, the clinical severity and also the response of the virus to antibodies that have been generated in people who've been vaccinated with the different vaccines that have been used in India, especially the covaxin and the covisheild and also the Sputnik vaccine," said Soumya Swaminathan, Chief Scientist at WHO at a press briefing.
“Over the coming weeks there'll be much more data forthcoming but variant just on the genomics alone doesn't mean anything. It only tells us the story when we know the complete information both on the clinical profile, on how it's spreading, the transmission as well as on how it's behaving in the community in vaccinated and unvaccinated populations," she said.
Maria Van Kerkove, the WHO’s lead on Covid-19 said WHO’s epidemiological team and lab team has been discussing with the virus evolution working group B1617 variant in terms of transmissibility and any studies that are being done in India as well as in other countries where this virus variant is circulating.
Various scientists have been considering the variant as one of the reasons behind the sudden surge in covid-19 cases. Now, it will be added to the list containing three other variants of Covid-19 -- those first detected in UK (B.1.1.7), Brazil (P.1) and South Africa (B.1.351) -- which the WHO has classified as being “of concern", the WHO said. They are seen as more dangerous than the original version of the virus by being more transmissible, deadly, or able to get past vaccine protections.
The recent emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 lineage B.1.617 in India has been associated with a surge in the number of daily infections. According to a pre-print study done by the Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Virology, Pune B1617 variant has combination of specific mutations L452R, E484Q and P681R reported to possibly enhance the transmissibility with likelihood of escaping the immunity. The scientists investigated the viral load and pathogenic potential of B.1.617.1 in Syrian golden hamsters.
The study demonstrated higher pathogenicity in hamsters evident with reduced body weight, higher viral load in lungs and pronounced lung lesions as compared to B.1 variant (previous strain). However, answering the question of this variant is the main cause of the surge of the second wave in India remains a challenge, the scientists said.
Many countries have been reporting the first cases of the Indian variant of coronavirus, also known as B.1.617, as India battles a vicious second wave of Covid-19 infections. In its report last month, the World Health Organisation (WHO) had said that the Indian strain of the coronavirus has been found in at least 17 countries, including the United Kingdom, USA and Singapore. Neighbouring Sri Lanka and Bangladesh too have reported the first cases of the Indian variant of coronavirus following which the authorities are exercising caution to limit its spread.
At least 3,29,942 new cases were registered in the last 24 hours. Ten States reported 69.88% of the new cases in last 24 hours. Karnataka has reported the highest daily new cases at 39,305. It is followed by Maharashtra with 37,236 while Tamil Nadu reported 28,978 new cases. The National Mortality Rate currently stands at 1.09%. At least 3,876 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours. Ten States account for 73.09% of the new deaths. Karnataka saw the maximum casualties (596). Maharashtra follows with 549 daily deaths.
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