The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology on Friday asked all social media platforms to immediately remove all references to "Indian variant" of coronavirus. The Centre has clarified that there's no Indian COVID variant and reference to the B.1.617 variant of coronavirus shouldn't be implied otherwise.
"It has come to our knowledge that a false statement is being circulated online which implies that an 'Indian variant' of coronavirus is spreading across the countries. 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," the ministry of electronics and information technology wrote.
WHO's report on B.1.617 variant
The clarification comes after WHO's report on May 11, where it said the B.1.617 variant of COVID is a variant of global concern. The government issued a statement a day later, saying WHO did not refer to B.1.617 variant of COVID as Indian variant and media reports using the term was without any basis. Now, the Centre has taken action in the matter.
"WHO does not identify viruses or variants with names of countries they are first reported from. We refer to them by their scientific names and request all to do the same for consistency," WHO had said in a statement, clarifying its stance.
According to a report by Reuters, citing a senior government source, the notice was issued to send a stern message on the use of the term "Indian variant" as it would hurt the country's image.
