Delta Variant Primary Cause Behind 2nd Wave of COVID-19 – Indian Govt. Study

A government study has found the first COVID-19 variant in India and known as Delta variant or the B.1.617.2 strain to be behind the second surge of the pandemic in the country.

Local media reported on Friday.

The study carried out by Indian SARS COV2 Genomic Consortia (INSACOG) and the National Centre for Disease Control said the Delta variant is more infectious than the Alpha variant.

INSACOG is a consortium of labs undertaking genome sequencing in India.

The B.1.617 variant and its lineage B.1.617.2 were primarily responsible for the surge in COVID-19 cases with a high transmissibility of 50 per cent more than Alpha variant (B.1.1.7) found in Britain, the study says.

Detection of B.1.1.7 VOC (variant of concern) was minimal until January 2021, increasing to about 20 per cent in February and 40 per cent in March 2021.

This was associated with slight increase in Rt from about 1.2 to 1.6. B.1.617 lineages increased from below 5 per cent in February 2021 to about 10 per cent in March before overtaking B.1.1.7 in April and rising to about 60 per cent of all samples, according to the study.