India’s coronavirus infections top 24 million as mutant spreads across globe

The B. 1.617 variant has been found in eight nations in the Americas, including Canada and the US

Meanwhile, the first dose of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine was administered in the southern city of Hyderabad as part of a limited pilot

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Multiple funeral pyres of people who died of Covid-19 burn at the Ghazipur crematorium in New Delhi. Photo: AP

Published: 5:46pm, 14 May 2021Updated: 9:57pm, 14 May 2021

India’s tally of coronavirus infections climbed past 24 million on Friday, amid reports that the highly transmissible variant first detected in the South Asian nation was spreading across the globe.

The B. 1.617 variant has been found in eight nations in the Americas, including Canada and the United States, said Jairo Mendez, an infectious diseases expert with the World Health Organization (WHO).

“These variants have a greater capacity for transmission, but so far we have not found any collateral consequences,” Mendez said. “The only worry is that they spread faster.”

Among the infected were travellers in Panama and Argentina who had arrived from India or Europe, while in the Caribbean, the variant was found in Aruba, Dutch St Maarten and the French department of Guadeloupe.

It has spread to the Himalayan nation of Nepal and also been detected in the UK and Singapore.

Public Health England said the total number of infections due to the variant had more than doubled in the past week, to 1,313 across Britain.