Vietnam: recombinant/hybrid coronavirus announced – B.1.617.2 Delta variant with Y144 mutation from B.1.1.7 Alpha variant

Vietnam has detected a coronavirus hybrid variant with characteristics from the existing B16172 Delta variant and B117 Alpha variant, the Ministry of Health announced Saturday.  More...

UK: coronavirus variant B.1.617.2 within hours of outcompeting B.1.1.7 in Britain

Well that escalated quickly. It took just a little over one month to do it, but B.1.617.2 is now just hours away from outcompeting B.1.1.7 (aka the UK or Kent variant) on a national scale in Great Britain.  More...

UK: B.1.617.2 Delta coronavirus variant cases double in four days to 2,323

The number of confirmed UK cases of the Covid variant first detected in India has almost doubled in four days, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said, as experts warned it could become the dominant type of the virus imminently.  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...