Delta variant has greater spread among fully vaccinated: Study

People, flouting Covid-19 norms, visit a crowded Sarojini Market area, in New Delhi, on Monday. Pic/PTI

A study has found that the Delta variant of Coronavirus is eight times less sensitive to antibodies generated by vaccines as compared to the original strain.

The study, which was conducted on over 100 healthcare workers (HCWs) at three centres in India, found that the B.1.617.2 Delta variant not only dominates vaccine-breakthrough infections with higher respiratory viral loads compared to non-Delta infections (Ct value of 16.5 vs 19) but also generates greater transmission among the fully vaccinated HCWs. It is yet to be peer reviewed.

"Across all scenarios considered, our results suggest the Delta variant is both more transmissible and better able to evade prior immunity elicited by the previous infection compared to previously circulating lineages," the study read.

Dr Chand Wattal, chairperson of the Institute of Clinical Microbiology and Immunology, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in Delhi, said, "This mutant has come back with enhanced spike proteins for attachment to the lung epithelial cells which have provided it with a much higher capacity to infect many more people than the Wuhan strain."

These combined epidemiological and in vitro data indicate that the dominance of the Delta variant in India has been most likely driven by a combination of evasion of neutralising antibodies in previously infected individuals and increased virus infectivity resulting in the second wave, the study said. Extensive vaccination will likely protect against moderate to severe disease and will reduce hospitalisation due to the Delta variant, it added.

India saw a single-day rise of 39,796 new cases, and 723 deaths, stated the Union Health Ministry data updated on Monday.

3,05,85,229
Total no. of Coronavirus cases in india so far

4,02,728
Total no. of deaths due to the virus in India so far

4,82,071
Total no. of active cases in India

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