Authorities in Vietnam have detected a new coronavirus variant that is a combination of B.1.617.2 (Indian) and B.1.1.7 (UK) variants and spreads quickly by air, the Vietnamese health minister said on Saturday. WHO calls the 'UK variant' (B.1.1.7) 'Alpha', and the B.1.617.2 variant, first found in India is 'Delta'. The Ministry of Health would announce the new coronavirus variant on the global genome map, he added, saying that the new variant is not named yet. WHO calls the 'UK variant' (B.1.1.7) 'Alpha', the 'South African variant' (B.1.351) 'Beta', P1 variant which was first detected in Brazil 'Gamma' and the B.1.617.2 variant, first found in India 'Delta'. The Southeast Asian country has, so far, recorded the presence of seven coronavirus variants: B.1.222, B.1.619, D614G, B.1.1.7, B.1.351, A.23.1 and B.1.617.2.

Source: dna June 01, 2021 13:30 UTC