Covid-19 pandemic: B.1.617 most common strain detected, says Harsh Vardhan

Accounts for over 20% of samples sent for genome sequencing

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Monday that the B.1.617 variant of coronavirus, first detected in India, has become the most common mutation detected so far, and was found in more than 20 per cent of samples sent for genome sequencing.
 
Vardhan was speaking at the 27th high-level meeting of the Group of Ministers on Covid-19. He said 25,739 samples have been sequenced and variant B.1.617 has been found in 5,261 samples. “States have been requested to send samples regularly for better analysis,” he added.
 
B.1.617, which has been termed a variant of concern by the World