Here Is Why The WHO Won't Call B.1.617 Strain Of SARS CoV-2 As 'Indian Variant' Of COVID-19

After the WHO said that the B.1.617 variant of Covid-19, which was first reported in India had been detected in sequences uploaded "from 44 countries in all six WHO regions, the Government of India has clarified that World Health Organization has not associated the term "Indian Variant" with the new strain in its weekly epidemiological update on the pandemic.

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"This is to clarify that WHO has not associated the term "Indian Variant" with the B.1.617 variant of the coronavirus in its 32-page document. In fact, the word 'Indian' has not been used in its report on the matter," said the Government of India.

It further informed that several media reports have covered the news of WHO classifying B.1.617 as a variant of global concern. "Some of these reports have termed the B.1.617 variant of the coronavirus as an "Indian Variant". These media reports are without any basis, and unfounded," GoI added.

"WHO does not identify viruses or variants with names of countries they are first reported from. We refer to them by their scientific names and request all to do the same for consistency," WHO South-East Asia had said.

WHO does not identify viruses or variants with names of countries they are first reported from. We refer to them by their scientific names and request all to do the same for consistency: WHO South-East Asia pic.twitter.com/e1gJrCldZe

¡ª ANI (@ANI) May 12, 2021

Earlier, the WHO had characterized the lineage B.1.617 as a variant of concern (VOC).

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Variants of concern are those considered more dangerous than the original form of the virus first seen in China in late 2019.

That danger stems from a variant's higher transmissibility, lethality and resistance to vaccines, or either of them.

What is B.1.617?

B.1.617 contains three sub-lineages, which differ by few but potentially relevant mutations in the spike protein - this helps the virus enter the human cells, as well as the prevalence of detection globally.

B.1.617 sub-lineages that appear to have higher rates of transmission is said to be behind the second wave of COVID-19 in India.

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B.1.617 has three spike protein mutations. Two mutations E484Q and L452R are in the area important for antibody-based neutralisation. The third mutation P681R allows the virus to enter cells a little better.

There are also fear that the new strain has evolved to escape the antibodies, making the vaccines ineffective.

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According to Anurag Agrawal, director of the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, the new strain does lead to loss of neutralisation of antibodies but it is modest and added that, vaccines are effective against it.

Research, which Agrawal was a part of, also suggested that vaccines are likely to prevent severe disease.