India declares Delta Plus (K417N) a Variant of Concern, and UK reports it is in 11 nations

​As the highly transmissible “Delta Variant” has spread to over 85 nations, on June 22 India also declared “Delta Plus” a Variant of Concern. The “plus” refers to the addition of a spike protein mutation, K417N, in the Delta Variant. This K417N mutation has been seen in other variants, most notably the Beta variant (B.1.351). ​

The concern is that this K417N mutation could confer resistance to at least one monoclonal antibody. This concern is still under investigation and has not been confirmed for the Delta Plus variant. ​

Most official data on the Delta Plus variant are from the June 22 government of India statement  and June 25 Public Health England update on variants. 

​Of note, I did not find similarly detailed information on the Delta Plus variant on either this week’s WHO epidemiological update, or the US CDC webpages. Neither WHO nor US CDC have followed India’s lead this week in declaring Delta Plus a Variant of Concern.

​I anticipate much more information on this Delta Plus variant over the next week. The question naturally arises as to what’s next. Will additional key mutations occur in the Delta or Delta Plus variants, especially ones that confer marked immune evasion?