WHO names B1617 fourth COVID-19 Variant of Concern

• Top World Health Organization (WHO) officials said the agency now classifies the B1667 SARS-CoV-2 variant first detected in India as a Variant of Concern, following a detailed analysis of early findings by its genetics working group, which said the variant is more transmissable.
• Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO's technical lead for COVID-19, said the group's experts have been meeting for the past few days to review as much data as possible about the B1617 variant. She said B1617 has three sublineages. preliinary analysis suggests it is more trnsmissable, part of what led the group to move it from a Variant of Interest to a Variant of Concern alongside B117, B1351 and P1.
• She said much more work is needed to look at B1617 sequences form India and other countries that have detected it, adding that lab studies to shed light on virus neutralization issues are needed, as well as epidemiological studies to provide clues on how the variant behaves.
• So far, public health measures such as distancing, limiting gatherings and wearing lasks seem to work against B1617, Van Kerkhove said. But with a more transmissable virus, 'we have to work that much harder.'
• Tomorrow in its weekly COVID situation report the WHO will publish more details about the variant and its investigations so far, she said.
• Public Health England on May 7th announced it has reclassified B1617.2 as a variant of concern. Indian officials have said a combination of factors have been driving its second suge, the world's worst of the pandemic. They include social mixing, relaxed measures and more transmissable variants, which has also invluded B117, the variant first seen in the UK.