Delta Plus variant, flagged as a 'variant of concern', seemingly first appeared in Maharashtra, where 21 cases have been detected so far. Its ancestor — the B.1.617 — also appeared first in the state in February.
It has about a 40% higher transmission rate compared with alpha, which already had a 50% higher transmissibility than the original Covid strain, based on data coming out of the UK.
P.2 or B.1.1.28.2 variant of SARS-CoV-2, however, has so far had very less prevalence, with less than 0.5% of the viral samples detected worldwide showing this strain.
The IT ministry Friday wrote to all social media platforms that the WHO has not linked the term 'Indian variant' with the B.1.617 variant of the coronavirus in any of its reports.
CM Kejriwal said the new virus strain, observed to be dangerous for kids, could reach Delhi in form of a third wave and urged Centre to work on vaccine alternatives for children.
Cases of the B.1.617.2 strain have risen to 1,313 over the past week, Public Health England said Thursday, assessing it to be 'at least as transmissible' as the so-called Kent variant.
Early analysis suggests B.1.617.1 and B.1.617.2 have a substantially higher growth rate than other circulating variants in India, suggesting potential increased transmissibility.
The B.1.617 variant of the coronavirus consists of at least 3 sub-lineages — B.1.617.1, B.1.617.2 and B.1.617.3. The B.1.617.2 lineage is now growing in prevalence across the country.
Govt says digital payments also uplift under-served communities by providing them financial footprint that can be used to assess credit worthiness in absence of traditional documents.
As Narendra Modi becomes India’s second-longest consecutively serving Prime Minister, we look at how he compares with Indira Gandhi across four key dimensions.
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