COVID-19 Delta variation; more contagious or more pernicious?
Keywords:
COVID-19, Delta variant, Mortality, TransmissionAbstract
To the editor,
Among the advancement of the COVID-19 pandemic, the pathogenic virus proceeds to change genomic epidemiology and steadily whole-genome sequencing evolution. One of the latest variations, SARS-CoV-2 delta, B.1.617.2 variant of concern (VOC) formerly, has become the most prevalent type of SARS-CoV-2 in many countries [1]. It identified following an upsurge in the western part of India since January 2021. More detailed analysis disclosed that the prevailing lineage in distribution is a novel identified lineage B.1.617 holding in common signature mutations D111D, G142D, L452R, E484Q, D614G, and P681R, in the spike protein, containing within the receptor-binding domain (RBD) [2, 3].
Following the initial high mortality rate of this variation in India as its hostess, as the growing number of fatal reports from several countries regarding its transfer to most parts of world in recent months, Delta variation was known as the deadliest COVID-19 [4, 5, 6].
According to official statistics, the mortality rate in individuals in areas where the Delta variant has become dominant is much higher than the same period and the epidemic with previous COVID-19 lineages. The enigma here is, does this mean more lethality of this variant?
References
Our World in Data. Share of COVID sequences that are the delta variant. 2021 July 20, 2021); Available from: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/covid-cases-delta.
Cherian S, Potdar V, Jadhav S, et al. Convergent evolution of SARS-CoV-2 spike mutations, L452R, E484Q and P681R, in the second wave of COVID-19 in Maharashtra, India. bioRxiv, 2021.04.22.440932. doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.22.440932.
Motozono C, Toyoda M, Zahradnik J, et al. An emerging SARS-CoV-2 mutant evading cellular immunity and increasing viral infectivity. bioRxiv, 2021.04.02.438288. doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.02.438288.
Salvatore, M, Bhattacharyya, R, Purkayastha, S, et al. Resurgence of SARS-CoV-2 in India: Potential role of the B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant and delayed interventions. medRxiv, 2021.2006.2023.21259405.
Kumar, A, Dwivedi, P, Kumar, G, et al. Second wave of COVID-19 in India could be predicted with genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 variants coupled with epidemiological data: A tool for future. medRxiv, 2021.2006.2009.21258612.
Shah SA, Moore E, Robertson C, et al. Predicted COVID-19 positive cases, hospitalisations, and deaths associated with the Delta variant of concern, June–July, 2021. Lancet, 2021.09.10. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S2589-7500(21)00175-8.
Wu K, Werner AP, Koch M, et al. Serum Neutralizing Activity Elicited by mRNA-1273 Vaccine. N Engl J Med, 2021,384(15):1468-1470.
Callaway E. Delta coronavirus variant: scientists brace for impact. (Accessed on 25/06/21). Available online from: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01696-3.
Lopez Bernal, J, Gower C, Andrews N. Effectiveness of Covid-19 Vaccines against the B.1.617.2 (Delta) Variant. New England Journal of Medicine, 2021. 385(7): 585-594.
Yadav, P. D., et al. Neutralization of Beta and Delta variant with sera of COVID-19 recovered cases and vaccinees of inactivated COVID-19 vaccine BBV152/Covaxin. Journal of Travel Medicine, 2021 Oct 11;28(7):taab104. doi: 10.1093/jtm/taab104. PMID: 34230972; PMCID: PMC8344909.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2021 Fereshteh Yazdanpanah, Shayan Yazdanpanah, Nima Rezaei
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Transfer of Copyright and Permission to Reproduce Parts of Published Papers.
Authors retain the copyright for their published work. No formal permission will be required to reproduce parts (tables or illustrations) of published papers, provided the source is quoted appropriately and reproduction has no commercial intent. Reproductions with commercial intent will require written permission and payment of royalties.