India among few nations witnessing surge: WHO
New Delhi: The latest statement given by the World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday alerting India to work on coronavirus spread. The WHO statement said, “India is among the few nations where covid-19 cases are reporting in huge number.” The WHO also classified a fifth “variant of interest” detected in Colombia, which presented immune escape potential.
Based on the latest round of risk assessment, the WHO said “A new variant, B.1.621, has been classified as a ‘variant of interest’ and includes the descendent Pango lineage B.1.621.1. The Mu variant has a constellation of mutations that indicate potential properties of immune escape,”
WHO, however, said further studies were needed to confirm this.
According to the WHO expert “Since its first identification in Colombia in January 2021, there had been a few sporadic reports of cases of the Mu variant and some larger outbreaks in other countries in South America and Europe.”
On the fifth “variant of interest” – The world body said that “More studies are required to understand the characteristics of this variant, taking no chances with the spread of mutations given the rapid global spread of Delta earlier this year.”
Meanwhile, with under 4.4 million new Covid cases reported week ending August 29, the WHO said the number of new cases globally appeared to be plateauing after having increased for two months. India was among the few nations to report a surge in new infections last week.
The alpha variant has now been reported in 193 countries, Beta in 141 countries, Gamma in 91 countries, and Delta in 170 countries.
