Image Courtesy:thehindu.com
On May 11 the World Health Organisation had said the Coronavirus variant first identified in India in 2020 “was being classified as a variant of global concern.” According to the World Health organisation (WHO), this was based on preliminary studies that showed that it spreads more easily. Named B.1.617, it is reported to be “the fourth variant to be designated as being of global concern” and the other variants of global concern were first detected in Britain, South Africa and Brazil. On May 12, the government issued a statement slamming media reports that used the term “Indian Variant”. According to the government the WHO had classified the variant as just B.1.617 and not called it India Variant, as some news reports called it.
Now, Reuters reports that the information technology (IT) ministry has written to all social media companies asking them to “take down” content that refers to “Indian variant”. According to news reports, the letter which has not been made public yet says, “This is completely FALSE. There is no such variant of Covid-19 scientifically cited as such by the World Health Organisation (WHO). WHO has not associated the term ‘Indian Variant’ with the B.1.617 variant of the coronavirus in any of its reports.”
Reuters reported that according to “a senior Indian government source”, the letter is a “notice” that has been issued to send a “loud and clear” message that mentions of “Indian variant” are a form of “miscommunication” and that has “hurt the country’s image.” As is known, and was once again explained by Reuters, most references to Coronavirus variants are on the basis of where they are identified, for example there are “South Africa and Brazil” variants.
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