Only one strain of the Covid-19 Delta variant, which was first discovered in India, is now considered “of concern,” according to the WHO “Two other strains were downgraded as well.
Because it is split into three lineages, the B.1.617 variant of the virus, which has been blamed in part for India’s explosive outbreak, has been dubbed a triple mutant variant.
Last month, the United Nations declared the entire strain a “variant of concern.” “, or VOC, but the company said on Tuesday that only one of the sub-lineages deserved the moniker.
“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
The B.1.617.2 variant is still classified as a VOC, as are three other virus variants that are considered to be more dangerous than the original because they are more transmissible, deadly, or have the potential to evade vaccine protection.
That variant has now been dubbed Delta, in accordance with a decision announced Monday to refer to the variants using Greek letters in order to avoid the possible stigmatisation associated with referring to them with the names of the countries where they were first detected.
“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.”
In fact, a new hybrid variant announced on Saturday by Vietnam’s health authorities appears to be a Delta variant.
“What we understand is that it is this B.1.617.2 variant with one additional deletion in the location of the spike protein,” WHO’s technical lead on Covid-19 Maria Van Kerkhove told reporters Tuesday.
“We know that the B.1.617.2, the Delta variant, does have increased transmissibility, which means it can spread easier between people,” she added.
The B.1.617.1 sub-lineage has meanwhile been downgraded to a “variant of interest,” and dubbed Kappa.
And the B.1.617.3 is now not even considered of interest, WHO said, since “relatively few reports of this variant have been submitted to date.”
