Using term 'Indian variant' for B.1.617 strain has no basis, WHO has not done so, says Health ministry

New Delhi: Taking umbrage at the B.1.617 mutant of the novel Coronavirus being termed an "Indian variant", the Union health ministry on Wednesday said the WHO has not used the word "Indian" for this strain in its document.

The ministry dismissed as "without any basis and unfounded" media reports that have used the term "Indian variant" for the B.1.617 mutant strain, which the WHO recently said was a "variant of global concern".

The WHO also 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," WHO South-East Asia said in a tweet.

"Several media reports have covered the news of World Health Organisation (WHO) classifying B.1.617 as variant of global concern. Some of these reports have termed the B.1.617 variant of the Coronavirus as an 'Indian Variant'," the ministry said in a statement.

"These media reports are without any basis, and unfounded," it said.

This is to clarify that the WHO has not associated the term "Indian variant" with the B.1.617 strain of the Coronavirus in its 32-page document, it said.

In fact, the word "Indian" has not been used in its report on the matter, the ministry added.

The B.1.617 variant of the Coronavirus first identified in India last year has been found in 44 countries, says the World Health Organization (WHO) which has classified it as a variant of concern'.

The UN body routinely assesses if variants of SARS-CoV-2 result in changes in transmissibility and severity, or if they lead to changes in public health and social measures' implementation by national health authorities.

As of May 11, over 4,500 sequences have been uploaded to GISAID and assigned to B.1.617 from 44 countries in all six WHO regions, the global health body said in its latest weekly epidemiological update published on Tuesday. GISAID is a global science initiative and primary source that provides open access to genomic data of the novel Coronavirus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic.

WHO has also characterized the lineage B.1.617 as a variant of concern (VOC).

Variants of concern are those considered more dangerous than the original form of the virus first seen in China in late 2019. That danger stems from a variant's higher transmissibility, lethality and resistance to vaccines, or either of them. 

B.1.617 contains three sub-lineages, which differ by few but potentially relevant mutations in the spike protein - this helps the virus enter the human cells, as well as the prevalence of detection globally.

At the present time, WHO has designated B.1.617 as a VOC based on early evidence of phenotypic impacts compared to other circulating virus variants, WHO said.

According to it, B.1.617 sub-lineages appear to have higher rates of transmission, including observed rapid increases in prevalence in multiple countries.

Preliminary evidence suggests potential reduced effectiveness of Bamlanivimab, a monoclonal antibody used for COVID-19 treatment, and potentially slightly reduced susceptibility to neutralisation antibodies, it said.

Viruses in the B.1.617 lineage were first reported in India in October 2020.