India: Covaxin and Covishield vaccines invoke 50% fewer antibodies against B.1.617 coronavirus variant

Scientists at the Indian National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, have found that both Covaxin and Covishield produce half as many antibodies against the B.1.617 variant of the novel coronavirus as against the ‘original’ B.1 variant.  More...

WHO: Newly designated VOC within lineage B.1.617 – update on Delta coronavirus variant

In consultation with the WHO SARS-CoV-2 Virus Evolution Working Group, WHO has determined that viruses within the lineage B.1.617 have been characterized as a VOC.  More...

UK: 1600 cases of Delta variant B.1.617.2 in Britain, now at >8% of total

According to the Covid-19 genomics UK consortium database, in sequences up to 11th May, there have been 1,604 instances of B.1.617.2, making it the second most common variant in the UK.   More...

WHO: B.1.617 Delta coronavirus strain is now a Variant of Concern or VOC

A World Health Organization official said Monday it is reclassifying the Indian Sars-Cov-2 variant B.1.617 as a “variant of concern,” indicating that it’s become a global health threat.

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Belgium: Five fully vaccinated care home residents infected with B.1.617.3 in vaccine breakthrough outbreak

Five residents of a care home in Borsbeek in Antwerp province have been infected with the so-called Indian variants of Covid-19, according to the Flemish Agency for Health and Care.  More...

India: B1617 twice as infectious as UK coronavirus variant B117

Early indications from an analysis of the growth of the B.1.617 variant of the Covid-19 virus has shown it to be at least twice as infectious as the UK variant and thrice as infectious as the variant behind last year’s Covid-19 wave.  More...

UK government poised to declare Delta coronavirus B.1.617 a Variant of Concern or VOC

The UK government is thought to have detected more than 40 clusters of the Indian Covid variant B.1.617 in the UK, and is on the verge of declaring it a “variant of concern”.

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