Emerging Variants of SARS Cov-2 “A New Challenge of 2021 for the World”

Author(s): Hadia Khadija, Rohama Zahid, Sabahat Gulzar, Munir Ahmad

The emergence of new severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants of concern (VOC) possess a significant threat to international public health because of the rapid variations in the SARS-CoV-2 genome, that may alter viral phenotype such as virulence, transmissibility, and ability to evade the host immune responses, making diagnostic & clinical management more difficult. The most prevalent variants of concern (VOCs) share mutations in the spike protein encoding gene secondly, on its S1 unit. United Kingdom, South Africa, Brazil, and India are among the highlighted regions for the reported cases of the emergent variants of concern. This literature study aims to discover and describe existing SARS-CoV-2 mutations that are responsible for the origin of novel variants with the special focus on the newly emerged deadly Indian Variant “Delta Variant (B.1.617.2). Secondly, the effectiveness of the vaccines against the emerging variants has also been discussed.