Indian Officials Did Not Say That the COVID Variant Doesn't Exist

Megan Healey

Health

1st June 2021

Indian Officials Did Not Say That the COVID Variant Doesn't Exist

Officials were asking social media to use more accurate terms (Getty Images).

The Claim

India's COVID-19 variant does not exist.

News posted on

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Emerging story

On May 12, India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology issued a letter asking social media platforms to remove posts that include the term “Indian variant” in reference to the variant of COVID-19. The request was part of an effort to encourage accuracy and curb the spread of misinformation.

Social media users became suspicious of the announcement, interpreting it to mean that a variant of the virus that originated from India did not exist. Some accused government officials of lying to the public.

A supporting image within the article body

Misbar’s Analysis

The letter issued by India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology did not claim that the variant itself doesn’t exist. Rather, it was asking for social media platforms to encourage the use of accurate terminology, in order to avoid bias, and to not identify the variant exclusively with the country of India. The World Health organization’s official name for it is B.1.617, or Delta.

Numerous scientists and journalists have said that associating specific countries with the variants is inaccurate, and can lead to harmful misunderstandings. “We need to make sure that any of the names that are used do not further stigmatise a person, or a last name, or a location inadvertently,” the WHO’s technical lead said. Specific countries are linked with COVID variants because they are the locations of the earliest documented samples, but it is not known whether patient zero lived in or even visited the countries where it was first found.

Referring to a variant with a location has already led to negative associations with countries and their people. It can even discourage countries from reporting cases to avoid negative perceptions. Former President Trump's use of the term “China Virus” was linked to a rise in anti-Asian posts on social media. There has also been a significant rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans since the start of the pandemic.

The WHO’s new nomenclature of using Greek letters aims to use more politically neutral and objective language to describe the variants.

Early studies suggest that B.1.617 spreads more easily than others, and it has already reached over 30 countries. Last week, India reported the largest daily death toll of any other country at over 4,500 people.