No case of B.1.1.529 COVID-19 variant reported in India so far: Official sources

The new COVID-19 variant B.1.1.529, which is causing an increase in new COVID-19 infections in South Africa, has not been found in India so far, said official sources on Friday.

Newly identified COVID-19 variant --- B.1.1.529 --- is causing an increase in new COVID-19 infections in South Africa.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has called for a special meeting to discuss the new Covid variant.


"We don't know very much about this yet. What we do know is that this variant has a large number of mutations. And the concern is that when you have so many mutations, it can have an impact on how the virus behaves," Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO's the technical lead on Covid-19, said in a briefing.