In an important admission, Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Thursday acknowledged that the double mutant variant of coronavirus, known as the B.1.617 lineage of SARS-CoV-2, was behind the surge in COVID-19 cases witnessed in the country over the past one and a half months.

Briefing the press after chairing a meeting via video conferencing with health ministers of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Delhi on the prevailing COVID-19 situation there, Vardhan said data from genome sequencing suggests the spread of the B.1.617 strain of coronavirus was responsible for the unprecedented surge in COVID-19 cases.

“Genome sequencing indicates that the rise in the current surge seen over the last 1.5 months correlates with the rise in B.1.617 lineage of SARS-CoV-2,” the Union Health Minister said.

The second wave of COVID-19 in the country over the past two months or so has seen a spike in daily cases from around 11,000 in March to over 4 lakh infections per day in May. The ‘early trend’ of decline in daily cases has also been noticed over the past few days but daily death figures continue to remain at an all-time high above the 4,000-mark.

Meanwhile, the union minister said that Maharashtra continues to remain the most affected state in the country, while a surge in cases has been witnessed in Rajasthan.

“We see a declining trend since April 27, but still, the state is reporting around 50,000 new cases daily. Since May 8, Rajasthan is showing a rise in active cases and the daily number of deaths has gone above 150,” Vardhan said.

“In Kerala, all districts are showing a rising trend since April 15. There is an increase in daily new deaths. Karnataka is showing a rising trend in daily new cases since March 2021; Bengaluru is the worst affected,” he stated further.