Amid row over ‘Indian variant’, WHO sets record straight, says ‘viruses not identified with name of countries’
WHO South-East Asia took to social media and wrote, WHO 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. @PTI_News @PIB_India @ANI @timesofindia @htTweets @IndianExpress @the_hindu @MoHFW_INDIA
New Delhi: Amid too much hulla-baloo over Indian variants of Covid-19 spreading in other countries, WHO has come forward and sought to put an end to unnecessary controversy. In a clear statement, it said that the viruses are not identified by names of countries, where they originate.
WHO South-East Asia took to social media and wrote, WHO 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. @PTI_News @PIB_India @ANI @timesofindia @htTweets @IndianExpress @the_hindu @MoHFW_INDIA
WHO 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. @PTI_News @PIB_India @ANI @timesofindia @htTweets @IndianExpress @the_hindu @MoHFW_INDIA
— World Health Organization South-East Asia (@WHOSEARO) May 12, 2021
On Wednesday morning, it was reported that the World Health Organization (WHO) informed that the B.1.617 variant of Covid-19, first found in India in October last year, had been detected in sequences uploaded “from 44 countries in all six WHO regions”.
“As of 11 May, over 4500 sequences have been uploaded to GISAID (platform of data sharing mechanism for influenza) and assigned to B.1.617 from 44 countries in all six WHO regions, and WHO has received reports of detections from five additional countries,” WHO said in its weekly epidemiological update on the pandemic.
The WHO report also said that it has received “reports of detections from five additional countries.
The coronavirus variant B.1.617 first identified in India last year has been classified as a “variant of global concern”, with some preliminary studies showing that it spreads more easily, a senior WHO official had said on Monday.