It's One Strain Of Covid-19 Delta Variant First Detected In India of Concern Now, Says WHO

WHO observed that greater public health risks are currently associated with B.1.617.2, while lower rates of transmission of other lineages have been seen.

With India gaining spotlight amid the second wave of the Covid-19, the World Health Organisation on Tuesday clarified that only one strain of the Covid-19 Delta variant first detected in India is deemed to be "of concern", while two other strains had been downgraded.India’s exploding numbers of coronavirus cases has been blamed to be B.1.617 variant, which has in part caused the rise in cases.

What is B.1.617 variant?

The B.1.617 variant has been dubbed a triple mutant variant since it is split into three lineages. In May, the UN body declared the entire strain a "variant of concern", or VOC, but on Tuesday, it said only one of the sub-lineages deserved that label.

"It has become evident that greater public health risks are currently associated with B.1.617.2, while lower rates of transmission of other lineages have been observed," the World Health Organization said in its weekly epidemiological update on the pandemic.

As per the global health body, the B.1.617.2 variant remains a VOC, along with three other variants of the virus that are seen as more dangerous than the original version because they are more transmissible, deadly or have the potential to get past some vaccine protections.

According to the decision on Monday, the WHO referred to the variants using Greek letters, in an attempt to avoid the possible stigmatisation associated with referring to them with the name of the countries where they were first detected. Hence that variant has now been referred to as Delta.

"We continue to observe significantly increased transmissibility and a growing number of countries reporting outbreaks associated with this variant," the UN agency said.

"Further studies into the impact of this variant remain a high priority for WHO."