Danish health authorities "not worried" by virus variant

Danish health authorities are not "particularly worried at present" by the appearance of a new mutation of COVID-19, B.1.617, first found in India, said the Statens Serum Institut (SSI) in a press release Tuesday, reported Xinhua.

So far, Danish health authorities have recorded 29 cases of B.1.617 variant in Denmark, according to SSI.

"It is estimated that there are a total of four chains of infection. Three of these chains with a travel relationship. None of the confirmed cases are hospitalized or dead," said the press release.

However, the variant is not currently assessed as a particularly worrying variant, and the SSI also assesses that the approved COVID-19 vaccines will have an effect on B.1.617, it added.

"We do not have data to suggest that the mutation B.1.617 is more contagious than, for example, the mutation B.1.1.7 originally from the United Kingdom, and at the same time we assess that the vaccines will be effective against it," said SSI's technical director Tyra Grove Krause in the press release.

To date, 1,253,844 Danes have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, accounting for about 21.5 percent of the country's population, according to the latest SSI data published on Tuesday.

The SSI registered 624 new COVID-19 infections and a further two deaths in the past 24 hours in Denmark, bringing the country's total cases and death toll to 248,950 and 2,479, respectively.