In a major development, scientists have succeeded to discover why the Indian ‘Delta’ COVID-19 variant is spreading faster around the world as compared to other coronavirus strains.
Researchers at the Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention in China looked at people infected with the mutation, also known as B.1.617.2. and found that it makes copies of itself more quickly and has a shorter incubation period than previous strains.
The study explains how the Delta variant has exponentially overtaken the US going from 10% of all cases in mid-June to 83.2% of all new infections by mid-July.
It is pertinent to mention here that the variant, which was first identified in India in September, has been labelled as a ‘double mutant’ by India’s Health Ministry because it carries two mutations: L452R and E484Q.
L452R is the same mutation seen with the California homegrown variant and E484Q is similar to the mutation seen in the Brazilian ‘Gamma’ and South African ‘Beta’ variants.
