The WHO has warned against jumping the gun in blaming the new Indian variant   for the surge in coronavirus cases in the country since it has still not classified it in the same category as the UK, Brazil and South African “variants of concern.”

According to the WHO, a variant is considered worrying if it spreads more easily, causes more serious cases of the disease, bypasses the immune system or reduces the effectiveness of known treatments.

A WHO spokeswoman said that it was not clear at this point to what extent the variant was responsible for the rapid increase in cases in India in recent months, DPA news agency reported.

There are many factors that could have contributed to this, she said. For example, festivals and other events with many participants may have accelerated infections.

The British coronavirus variant may also be affecting India's epidemiological situation.

The British, South African and Brazilian variants of Covid-19 have all been classified by the WHO as "variants of concern." The newest variant was first detected in India on December 1, 2020.

Coronavirus case count

On Monday, India registered 352,991 fresh cases of Covid-19, the highest in a day so far. There was a net increase of 130,907 in active coronavirus cases as a significant number of patients were cured of the infection.

The country’s test positivity rate on Sunday was 25.2 per cent, implying one in every four people tested turned out to be positive. And, with 2,812 new fatalities, its Covid-19 death toll reached 195,123, or 1.13 per cent of total confirmed infections. The death rate in the country has been much lower than in other countries as most of the patients have been recovering

India’s share of global active coronavirus cases now stands at 14.90 per cent (one in 7). The country is second among the most affected countries by active cases.