Cause Spike In COVID-19 Cases In India, Variant B.1.617 Detected In 17 Countries

COVID-19 illustration. (Wikimedia Commons / Alberto Giuliani)

JAKARTA - The COVID-19 variant, which is believed to be behind the massive wave of infections and deaths in India, has been detected in 17 countries around the world, including several European countries.

Data obtained by Euronews from the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), variant B.1.617 which is also known as the Indian variant, was found in seven European countries, including Belgium, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the French Caribbean Islands in Guadeloupe, and English.

The UK on April 21 has detected the most 132 cases of any European country. Other European countries have so far detected fewer than 10 cases each.

In its latest weekly update released on Tuesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) detected this variant in 17 countries, with most samples coming from India, UK, United States and Singapore.

"Variant B.1.617 has several sub-lineages that differ slightly with characteristic mutations, but one of the main ones, called L452R, has been associated with increased transmission and lower resistance to treatment including vaccination," the WHO said, reporting on Euronews.

To note, India passed the bleak milestone of 200,000 COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday with more than 3,000 deaths reported in the preceding 24 hours, the daily record for the country. The number of deaths has risen in recent weeks with an estimated 44,000 deaths recorded since March 1.