Delta Variant Six Times More Likely To Re-Infect Those Recovered From Covid: Study

Delta variant (or B.1.617.2 lineage) is found to be eight times more likely to escape immunity gained through the AstraZeneca or Pfizer vaccines compared to the original virus.

Covid Delta Variant | Representative Image

New Delhi: Stating possible and serious concerns related to the sudden spike in Covid-19 cases connected to the Delta variant of the SARS-CoV2 virus, a new study has indicated that this variant has a much higher ability to infect, and evade the immune response built through previous infections or vaccines.

What is the impact of the Delta variant?

A team of researchers from India and other countries found the Delta variant (or B.1.617.2 lineage) to be eight times more likely to escape immunity gained through the AstraZeneca or Pfizer vaccines compared to the original virus.

READ: Maharashtra Minister Nitin Raut Warns Of Imposing Curbs Ahead Of Ganesh Chaturthi

The study has been published in Nature journal indicating that the Delta variant is six times more likely to re-infect people who have recovered from Covid-19.

Delta variant was first identified in the state of Maharashtra in 2020 and spread throughout the country, outcompeting pre-existing lineages including B.1.617.1 (Kappa) and B.1.1.7 (Alpha).

What contributed to the spread of the Delta variant?

The study also found “higher replication efficiency” in the Delta variant that aided its capability to infect and “potentially explaining the B.1.617.2 dominance”.

According to the Indian Express report, the study revealed that “increased replication fitness” and “reduced sensitivity” to neutralising bodies, built either through natural infection or vaccines, had caused the spike of the Delta variant cases in more than 90 countries.

The research was carried out among 9,000 fully vaccinated healthcare workers in three Delhi hospitals. At the time of the study, a total of 218 workers had symptomatic infections even after taking both doses of the Covishield vaccine. The prevalence of the Delta variant in this cohort was found to be 5.45 times more than other variants.

It said that compromised vaccine efficacy against the highly fit and immune evasive B.1.617.2 Delta variant warrants continued infection control measures in the post-vaccination era.