May 11, 2021
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The World Health Organization said Monday that a variant of the coronavirus circulating in India is of global concern.
“We classify it as a variant of concern at a global level,” Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO technical lead on COVID-19, told a briefing. “There is some available information to suggest increased transmissibility.”
India’s daily COVID statistics are down slightly but remain high. The health ministry said Monday there were 366,161 new infections and 3,754 deaths caused by the coronavirus in the previous 24-hour period. Public health experts say they believe the new cases and deaths are undercounted.
India has 22.6 million COVID cases so far, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. Only the U.S. has more infections, accounting for 32.7 million of the world’s 158.3 million COVID cases, the center reported.