B.1.617 Covid-19 variant has reached 53 nations: WHO

WHO’s weekly update says the ‘variant of concern’, which was first detected in India, has increased transmissibility; report cites rise in fatalities globally

The B.1.617 Covid-19 variant, first detected in India, has now been found in 53 countries, according to the WHO, which noted that India recorded a 23 per cent decrease in the number of new cases in the last seven days but they were still the highest in the world.

The World Health Organisation’s Covid-19 Weekly Epidemiological Update dated May 25 said that over the past week, the number of new cases and deaths continued to decrease globally, with over 4.1 million new cases and 84,000 new deaths reported, a 14 per cent and 2 per cent decrease respectively compared to the previous week.

According to the update, the B.1.617 variant, first detected in India, is now prevalent in 53 countries globally.

The update gave a break-up of prevalence of the three sub-lineages of the B.1.617 variant in countries, territories and areas as of May 25.

WHO has declared B.1.617 as a “variant of concern” and the update noted that this variant has “increased transmissibility”, disease severity is “under investigation”, risk of reinfection is “under investigation, possible modest reduction in neutralization activity (B.1.617.1)”. “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,” it said.

The update further said that the South-East Asia Region reported over 2 million new cases and over 32,000 new deaths.

“While the overall incidence of cases continues to decrease (driven primarily by trends in India), death incidence continued to increase for a tenth consecutive week, and sizable increases have been observed in other countries in the region,” it said.

Meanwhile, WHO has sought more data on China’s Sinovac Biotech-made Covid-19 vaccine, named CoronaVac.

US playing politics over probe: China

China on Thursday accused the Joe Biden administration of playing politics by calling for a renewed investigation into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic that was first detected in China in late 2019. Biden has told US intelligence officials to redouble their efforts to probe the source, including any possibility the trail might lead to a Chinese laboratory. The order is being seen as an attempt to press China to be more open about the outbreak. The US president has sought a report within 90 days.

Melbourne set for 4th lockdown

Australia’s second-largest city was set to enter its fourth lockdown on Thursday as concern grew over the rapid spread of infections from a coronavirus variant. The seven-day lockdown for Melbourne and the rest of Victoria state comes after a new cluster in the city rose to 26 infections, including a person who was in intensive care. Another 10,000 people have had some degree of contact with those already infected.

Also Read: ‘Centre in talks with int’l vax makers for a year’

5,39,384
No. of new cases reported globally in the past 24 hours

16,85,20,476
Total no. of cases worldwide

3,5,01,002
Total no. of deaths worldwide

Source: WHO/Johns Hopkins

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