The World Health Organization has reclassified the highly-contagious triple mutant variant of COVID-19 from India as ‘variant of concern’.
This means that the variant is now considered as global health threat.
The Indian variant known as B.1.617, has been found in preliminary studies to spread more easily than the original virus. There are also some evidence that it may able to evade some of the protections provided by vaccines.
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“And as such we are classifying this as a variant of concern at the global level,” the WHO said in a briefing.
“Even though there is increased transmissibility demonstrated by some preliminary studies, we need much more information about this virus variant in this lineage in all of the sub lineages, so we need more sequencing, targeted sequencing to be done,” it added.
The WHO is currently monitoring 10 coronavirus variants in the world.
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The Indian variant was previously labeled a “variant of interest” as more studies were needed to completely understand its significance.
“What it means for anybody at home is any of the SARS-CoV-2 viruses circulating can infect you and spread and everything in that sense is of concern,” the WHO said.
“So, all of us at home, no matter where we live, no matter what virus is circulating, we need to make sure that we take all of the measures at hand to prevent ourselves from getting sick,” it added.
