New Delhi: The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that the Covid-19 variant found for the first time in India will be called the “Delta variant”.
The WHO group recommended the use of Greek alphabets, such as Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and so on.
The WHO had previously stated that B.1.617 has now been officially recorded in 53 locations.
Earlier on May 12, the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi objected to being labeled ““Indian variant”.
The Union Health Ministry had in a press release said several media reports have covered the news of the WHO classifying B.1.617 as variant of global concern.
The Covid variant first discovered in India will be called ‘Delta’ and the variant found in the country will be known as ‘Kappa’, the WHO has announced.
“Labels do not change existing scientific names, they convey important scientific knowledge and will continue to be used in research. No country should be discriminated against in the discovery and reporting of Covid,”: Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s technology leader said.
The WHO said the naming would be “easier and easier to discuss for non-scientific audiences”. “Therefore, we classify this as a global concern,” there was a B.1.617 previously listed as “exceptional interest”.
Earlier, in stating that some of these reports referred to variation of coronavirus B.1.617 as “Indian Variant”, the Union Department of Health stated: “These media reports are baseless, and baseless. This clarifies that the WHO did not associate the term “Indian Variant” with the B.1.617 variant of the coronavirus in its 32-page text. In fact, the word “Indian” is not used in its report on the subject. ”
Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan, who chaired the 27th meeting of the high-level Group of Ministers (GoM) on Covid-19 later on May 24, informed that 25,739 samples have been sequenced and variant B.1.617 has been found in 5,261 samples, making it the most common mutation detected till now.
He also informed that states have been requested to send samples regularly for better analysis.
ALSO WATCH:
