The coronavirus variant first detected in India has now been officially recorded in 53 territories, a World Health Organization (WHO) report shows.
Additionally, the WHO has received information from unofficial sources that the B.1.617 variant has been found in seven other territories, figures in the UN health agency’s weekly epidemiological update showed on Wednesday, taking the total to 60.
The report said B.1.617 had shown increased transmissibility, while disease severity and risk of infection were under investigation.
The update gave information on the four mutations classed as variants of concern: those first reported in Britain (B.1.1.7), South Africa (B.1.351), Brazil (P.1) and India (B.1.617).
When counting up the total number of territories reporting each variant, the WHO added data collated from official and unofficial sources.
B.1.1.7 has now been reported in 149 territories; B.1.351 in 102 territories and P.1 in 59 territories.
The WHO split up figures for the B.1.617 variant into three lineages (B.1.617.1, B.1.617.2 and B.1.617.3).
The first has been reported in a total of 41 territories, the second in 54 and the third in six: Britain, Canada, Germany, India, Russia and the US.
Together, lineages of the B.1.617 variant were officially recorded in 53 territories and unofficially in another seven.
The update also listed six variants of interest that are being monitored.
One was first discovered in multiple countries, two of them were first found in the US, while the three others were first discovered in Brazil, the Philippines and France.
