The World Health Organisation (WHO) has classified Indian variant, B.1.617 and its family of related coronaviruses as a Variant of Concern (VOC).
- Other than the B.1.617, three more have been categorised as VOC — the U.K. variant (B.1.1.7), the South Africa variant (B.1.351) and the Brazilian variant (P2).
- According to the WHO, when a virus is widely circulating in a population and causing many infections, the likelihood of the virus mutating increases. The more opportunities a virus has to spread, the more it replicates – and the more opportunities it has to undergo changes.
- To qualify as Variant of Concern (VOC), the identified variant must be linked to increased transmission or be associated with more severe disease or found to be evading detection by diagnostic tests.
- In March 2021, nearly 20 per cent of the cases out of Maharashtra were being linked to the variant. However, it was in early April that this variant became formally classified as a lineage, B.1.617-the so called “double mutant variant”. It consists two variants E484Q and L452R.
(Source: The Hindu, Indian Express and WHO)
