A new assessment claimed the B.1.617 COVID-19 variant is spreading at a 'frightening rate' worldwide and might exacerbate the pandemic, particularly in countries with low vaccination rates.
Experts said the B.1.617 variant is becoming increasingly dominant worldwide, which will not be the last time the virus mutates.
"What is frightening is the speed at which this variant can spread and circulate widely within the community, often surpassing the capability of contact-tracing units to track and isolate exposed contacts to break the transmission chains," a Professor Teo Yik Ying, Dean of the National University of Singapore's (NUS) Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, said in a Straits Times report.
"It has the potential to unleash a bigger pandemic storm than the world has previously seen," Ying added.
B.1.617 Variant Mutated to Spread More Easily
B.1.617 variant has mutated to spread more easily from person to person, specialists say. This may reduce the protection provided by vaccines and natural infection, though only marginally.
World Health Organization said per Business Standard that the variant initially discovered in India in October 2020 is now present in more than 50 nations and rapidly outnumber other variants that cause illness. WHO designated the said variant as a "variant of global concern," as Science Times recently reported.
The strain is 1.5 to two times more transmissible than originally surfaced 18 months ago in Wuhan. B.1.617 is available in three different variants: B.1.617.1, B.1.617.2, and B.1.617.3. The second version is the most relevant, as it appears to have surpassed B.1.617.1 in both local and global cases. According to the research, the third form, B.1.617.3, is extremely unusual.
While it is unknown whether B.1.617 strain causes more severe disease or deaths, broad immunization remains the greatest weapon. According to Teo, vaccinated people have a lesser probability of becoming infected and have a decreased probability of getting severe symptoms even if they become infected.
Vaccines Still Effective vs. B.1.617 Strain
Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca vaccines have effectively been effective against B.1.617 strain in various studies.
However, because of global disparity in vaccine availability and distribution, most nations fall far behind in vaccinating their citizens.
Professor Dale Fisher, chair of the WHO's Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network, was reported as noting that this means B.1.617 strain has a better possibility of spreading into nations that were previously unaffected by COVID-19.
"These countries, such as Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, are more vulnerable due to the low vaccination rates, leaving them more susceptible to severe disease," Fisher said in a National Herald report.
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