What Scientists Know About the B.1.617 Coronavirus Variant

While some experts speculate the variant could be partially responsible for India’s current surge in SARS-CoV-2 infections, information about the effects of its mutations is only beginning to emerge.

Written byShawna Williams

| 2 min read

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Update (May 11): CNBC reports that the World Health Organization now considers B.1.617 a variant of concern, following an analysis by one of its working groups that indicated the variant is more transmissible than the original one.

With India in the grip of a devastating second wave of COVID-19—the country recorded more than 368,000 new cases and 3,417 deaths from the disease yesterday—some have suggested that a variant first detected there in October could share some of the blame. The B.1.617 version of the coronavirus carries the ominous nickname “double mutant,” but it has more than two sequence changes from older SARS-CoV-2 variants, and little is known so far about the effects of these alterations, if any, on disease severity or the virus’s ability to evade immunity gained through infection or vaccines.

One preliminary bit of insight emerged on April 23, when researchers reported in a ...

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Meet the Author

Shawna Williams
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Shawna was an editor at The Scientist from 2017 through 2022. She holds a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Colorado College and a graduate certificate in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Previously, she worked as a freelance editor and writer, and in the communications offices of several academic research institutions. As news director, Shawna assigned and edited news, opinion, and in-depth feature articles for the website on all aspects of the life sciences. She is based in central Washington State, and is a member of the Northwest Science Writers Association and the National Association of Science Writers.
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