The coronavirus variant that has been first detected in India has now been officially recorded in 53 countries according to the reports by the World Health Organization on Wednesday.
In addition to this, the WHO has also received information from unofficial sources that the B.1.617 variant has also been found in seven other territories and it has also figured in the weekly epidemiological update shown by the UN health agency and it has taken the total to 60.
According to the report, it is said that the B.1.617 variant has shown increased transmissibility and the severity and the risk of infection were under investigation.
Over the past few weeks, all over the globe, there has been a decrease in the number of new cases and deaths and around 4.1 million new cases along with 84000 new deaths have been reported which is a 14 percent and two percent decrease respectively compared to the last week.
The European region of WHO has reported that in the last seven days there has been the largest decline in deaths and also in the number of new cases followed by the Southeast Asia region.
The number of cases that have been reported by the Eastern Mediterranean, Americas, Africa, and also the Western Pacific region is also quite similar to those that are reported in the previous week.
The document has also said that even though there is a decline in the global trend in the past four weeks, the incidence of covid-19 cases and the number of deaths has remained high and substantial increases have been observed in many countries across the world.
India has reported the highest number of new cases in the past seven days (1846055- down 23 percent), Brazil (451424-up three percent), Argentina (213046-up 41 percent), the United States (188410-down 20 percent), and Columbia (107590-down seven percent).
The update has also given information on the four mutations that are classed as variants of concern that have been first reported in Britain (B.1.1.7), South Africa (B. 1.351), Brazil (P.1), and India (B.1.617).
While reporting each variant and counting up the total number of territories, the WHO has also added together with those forms which it had according to official and unofficial information.
In 149 countries, B.1.1.7 has now been reported and B.1.351 and P.1 has been reported in 102 and 50 territories respectively.
The WHO has split up figures for the B.1.617 variant into three different lineages (B.1.617.1, B.1.617.2, and B.1.617.3).
The first variant has been reported in a total of 41 territories and the second and third one in 54 and six territories respectively. The six territories are Canada, Britain, India, Germany, the United States, and Russia.
The lineages of the B.1.617 variant together have been officially recorded in 53 territories and another seven unofficially.
According to the update and latest reports, six variants of interests are also listed that are being thoroughly monitored by WHO.
