In a letter to all the social media firms, the Ministry of information technology on Friday asked them to take down posts that refer to the “Indian variant” of coronavirus, reported Reuters that saw the letter. The World Health Organisation (WHO) on May 11 classified the coronavirus variant B.1.617, as a variant of global concern. It was first identified in India, last year.

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“This is completely FALSE. There is no such variant of COVID-19 scientifically cited as such by the World Health Organisation (WHO),” the Centre said in its letter that has not been made public. 

“WHO has not associated the term ‘Indian Variant’ with the B.1.617 variant of the coronavirus in any of its reports,” the letter added.

The letter was sent to make it “loud and clear” that the mention of the “Indian variant” spread miscommunication and hurt the country’s image, a senior government source told Reuters.

Around the world, the coronavirus variants have been generically called by the name of the country they were first identified in. For example the UK variant, South Africa variant and Brazil variant. 

Notably, a day after the WHO declared B.1.617, as a variant of global concern, the Centre said that the media reports using the term ‘Indian variant‘ were without any basis and that the world health body had only classified the variant B.1.617.

Also read: COVID second wave in India won’t end before July: Virologist Shahid Jameel

The government is under severe criticism over its handling of the second wave of coronavirus, which has resulted in over 200,000 new cases being reported daily for over a month. 291,331 people have died of the disease, till now.