Found in 44 countries, including Morocco, the Indian Covid-19 variant classified as being of «global concern»

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Wednesday that it had detected the Indian variant in several other countries around the world. The Indian variant was found in «44 countries in all six WHO regions», says the organization. WHO «received reports of detections from five additional countries».

Outside India, Britain has the largest number of Covid cases caused by the variant, write Reuters and AFP. 

This week, the WHO also classified it as «a variant of concern». B.1.617 thus joins the list of three other variants, those first detected in Britain, Brazil and South Africa, which are considered to be more dangerous than the original version of the coronavirus, either because they are more contagious, deadly or resistant to certain vaccines. The same sources explain that the Indian variant joined the list because it is more contagious.

According to official statistics, some 4,000 people currently die each day from Covid-19 in India, where the total toll of the epidemic exceeded 250,000 deaths on Wednesday. 

For the record, the Moroccan Ministry of Health confirmed, Monday, May 3, two cases of the Indian variant. The two cases were «at Moulay Youssef hospital while all the contact cases, numbering 17, were negative», assured the ministry.