Covid Delta Variant Scare

As nations race to roll out vaccines in the global effort to contain Covid-19 and allow for a return to normal, the rise of dangerous virus variants threaten to prolong the pandemic. The Delta Covid-19 variant is the new villain that has taken centre stage. Recently, India grappled through one of the deadliest waves of Covid-19, where the daily cases breached the world record. Experts pointed to several factors behind this exponential surge, with the emergence of a new variant strain ‘Delta’ being one of the primary causes.

The Delta variant known as B.1.617.2, is gaining ground around the world and is said to have contributed to the country’s recent surge. Two factors set Delta apart and make it potentially the most dangerous to date-

1. It has about a 40% higher transmission rate compared with alpha, which already had a 50% higher transmissibility than the original strain of the virus. This is visible in the UK data, which shows that the Delta variant went from accounting for 1% of all cases in early April to 70% by mid-May. It will likely almost completely replace the alpha variant by the end of June.

2. It is also believed to cause more severe disease than alpha, translating to a further rise In the percentage of positive cases that require hospitalization, even though the infections are in younger people. This second variant of increased severity had had not been confirmed With any other variant to date.

The Delta variant was Under investigation/ variant of interest even in the first wave, as it was termed as the variant of concern by WHO because it is more transmittable, more virulent and causes many complications. What is rather surprising about delta is that It has lost the key mutation that had people worried about the beta and gamma variants. This is one of the mutations that contributed to the loss of response to some antibodies, including those produced by the vaccines. The levels of protection are lower than what has been seen against the older variants such as alpha, but they still show that two doses of vaccines work pretty well against the delta variant. The real risk is when you consider the broader population, where many people are either unvaccinated or only have one dose of the vaccine, combined with delta’s higher transmissibility and disease severity.

Delta was prevalent in India and Asia by large. The spread of the Delta variant is already out of control in the UK while other countries appear to be only at the early stages. The best any country can do where the virus variant is already present is to vaccinate as fast as possible while increasing testing and genomic surveillance. Otherwise, the first indication of a problem will be an increased rate of positive cases.

This variant can have a serious impact on human health. First is a clotting problem that can cause a brain stroke or a heart attack or a particular vessel getting blocked, causing gangrene of the limbs, or blood clots causing pulmonary embolism or even gangrene in the intestine. Similarly, clotting can cause pancreatitis as well. The other problem is the inflammation problem called the Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome. This causes symptoms including fever or hypothermia, tachycardia, tachypnoea, and a change in blood leucocyte count. Cytokine Release Syndrome is another issue. It occurs when the immune system responds too aggressively to an infection. It causes a variety of symptoms, including fever, headaches and nausea.

Scientists agree that the best defence against the delta variant is to get a full two-dose vaccination. The vaccines available to us in our country, viz., Covishield, Covaxin and Sputnik put up a good defence against this virus and hold a very good efficacy rate. Besides, staying at home and following all the necessary Covid-19 safety protocols- social distancing, wearing a mask and sanitizing is essential to keep one safe.

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