India: B.1.617 now at 61% of coronavirus genome samples in Maharashtra – was ~20% just one month ago

The National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, has shared data with laboratories in Maharashtra showing that of 361 Covid-19 samples taken in Maharashtra from January to March and genome sequenced, 61% or 220 had the double mutation E484Q and L452R, now classified as B.1.617 lineage.  More...

Israel: Delta coronavirus variant – “The impression is that the Pfizer vaccine has efficacy against it, albeit a reduced efficacy,”

Israel has registered eight cases of a coronavirus variant first identified in India and believes that the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is at least partially effective against it, an Israeli health official said.  More...

India: double mutant coronavirus variant B.1.617 outcompeting B.1.1.7 UK variant

Data from Outbreak.info suggests that the B.1.617 “double mutant” variant is outcompeting the UK variant B.1.1.7 in India – the B1617 variant is now being detected in nearly twice as many sequences as the UK variant in 7 day rolling average of percent sequences with mutations

Graphs & data courtesy of Outbreak.info  More...

UK: Cases of B.1.617 Delta “double mutant” coronavirus variant double in one week to 160

Professor Paul Hunter, an epidemiologist at the University of East Anglia, analysed publicly available information on new variant numbers last Saturday and again yesterday and found that the number of genetically-confirmed Indian strain cases had risen in a week from 79 to 160.  More...