Here are five things about the Delta Variant that dominates the coronavirus infection

KONTAN.CO.ID – JAKARTA. The Delta variant has haunted the world for the past three months. This type of corona virus is the cause of the spike in new Covid-19 infections in various countries.

The World Health Organization’s Chief Scientist, Soumya Swaminathan, was quoted by Reuters on Friday (18/6), predicting that the Delta variant will become the most dominant coronavirus in the world. Such projections refer to the relatively high transmission rate of this variant.

According to records from the World Health Organization (WHO), this variant has spread to more than 80 countries as of June 16. In fact, this virus was only identified six months ago, to be exact at the end of 2020 in India.

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Here are some facts about the Delta variant:

This variant spreads quickly to various parts of the world

The variant which has another name B.1.617.2 was first identified in late 2020 in India. About four months after its identification, this variant has caused a wave of Covid-19 infections in India.

Two months after that, this variant according to WHO data, has spread to more than 80 countries. Citing the information contained on the Gavi website, WHO projects this variant will grip Europe. While in the United States, the Delta variant is said to be the cause of 10% of the total corona virus infections.

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Impressed more easily transmitted

The high rate of transmission of this variant is seen in the UK. Citing information on the Gavi website, the Delta variant is now listed as the cause of 90% of new Covid-19 infection cases in the UK. In fact, this variant was only detected in the UK last February.

Before the Delta variant was detected, most cases of coronavirus infection in the UK were caused by the Alpha variant. The variant which also has the name B1.1.7 was first detected in Kent.

The transmission rate of the Alpha variant is actually also high, it can reach 90% more infectious than the original variant of the corona virus. However, the Delta variant is much more contagious than the Alpha. Citing the Gavi website, the transmission rate of the Delta variant compared to the Alpha variant ranges from 30% to 100%.

Scientists are now investigating the cause of the high transmission rate of the Delta variant. The results so far have shown that there is a small change in the crown-shaped protein that increases the ability of this variant to bind to the ACE2 receptor it uses to enter human cells.

Another study, which has not yet entered the peer review stage, found this variant underwent mutations, which increased its ability to fuse with human cells once it had attached. If the virus could attach and fuse more easily, it might be able to infect more of our cells, which might make it easier to overwhelm our immune defenses.