WHO has not used term 'Indian Variant' for B.1.617 strain: Health Ministry

The reports terming B.1.617 variant of coronavirus as an Indian variant are without any basis and that the World Health Organization has not called it so while classifying it as a variant of concern, the health ministry clarified on Wednesday.

 

“WHO has not associated the term Indian Variant with B.1.617...The word “Indian” has not been used in its report on the matter,” the ministry said. The WHO South-East Asia in a tweet said it 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.” A report on the study of the variant by Indian Sars-Cov-2 Genomic Consortia and Cambridge University said the virus emerged in Maharashtra towards end-2020 and has spread throughout India and to at least 40 countries. But, a scientist said one can never know the country of origin but only the country where the virus was first sequenced.