Indian COVID-19 variant found in 44 countries, Britain reports most cases: WHO
The UN health agency said the B.1.617 variant of COVID-19 had been detected in more than 4,500 samples from 44 countries in all six WHO regions. (Image Source: Reuters)
Updated: May 12, 2021, 10:03 AM IST
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that the Indian strain of the COVID-19 or the double mutant variant which has triggered a second wave in India, has been detected in at least 44 countries around the world.
The UN health agency said the B.1.617 variant of COVID-19, first found in India in October, had been detected in more than 4,500 samples uploaded to an open-access database from 44 countries in all six WHO regions .
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The World Health Organization yesterday said the new Indian COVID-19 variant responsible for the fast acceleration of explosive outbreaks in India had been detected in dozens of countries worldwide.
AN NDTV report said that according to the UN health agency, the new strain identified as B.1.617 variant of COVID-19, originally discovered in India in October 2020, had been detected in over 4,500 samples uploaded to an open-access databank from 44 nations in all six regions of the WHO.
In its weekly update on the COVID-19 crisis, WHO said it received reports of detections from five countries more. Outside of India, WHO said Britain had reported they had the largest number of COVID-19 cases caused by the said new strain.
Ravi, who is also the member of Karnatakas Covid technical advisory committee, stressed on the need to ramp up medical infrastructure to treat Covid infected children. “We dont have enough pediatric Covid care wards and intensive care units for children. This has to be urgently scaled up,” he said.
Covid: India s double mutant variant found in 17 countries, says WHO
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India accounts for 38% of global cases reported in the past week, the report said.
The double mutant Covid variant identified as B1617 that was first detected in India, has spread to at least 17 countries , the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.
Up till April 27, B1617 variant had been detected in over 1,200 sequences uploaded on the open-access database GISAID (the Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Influenza Data) from at least 17 countries , the global health agency said in its weekly epidemiological update on the pandemic. Most sequences were uploaded from India, the UK, US and Singapore, it said on Tuesday.
PETALING JAYA: Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Johor have the highest number of sporadic Covid-19 cases – those where the source of infection is not known, says Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba.
The Health Minister also said that as of Sunday (April 25), sporadic cases accounted for about 60% of the total recorded since Jan 1. The highest number of sporadic cases are in Selangor (65,215), KL (19,834) and Johor (17,974), he told a press conference on Monday (April 26).
He also said the number of clusters in educational institutions had in`creased by 83% from 12 clusters in epidemiological week 15 (April 11 to 17) to 22 in week 16 (April 18 to 24).
Meanwhile, deputy Health director-general (research and technical support) Dr Hishamshah Mohd Ibrahim said the ministry had not yet detected the double-mutant variant originating from India.