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.
In Episode 1544 of CutTheClutter, Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta looks at some top economists pointing to the pitfalls of ‘currency nationalism’ with data from 1991 to 2004.
Troops patrolled up to Patrolling Point (PP) 10 on Monday. Though there are PP 10, 11, 12, 12A & 13 in Depsang Plains, it was decided that only one or two PPs would be patrolled.
While we talk much about our military, we don’t put our national wallet where our mouth is. Nobody is saying we should double our defence spending, but current declining trend must be reversed.
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