Revealing the reason behind the rapid spread of Delta Covid variant: Study

BEIJING: The Researchers at the Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention in China found that Delta viral load, which is the measure of the density of viral particles in the body,  is roughly 1,000 times higher in people infected with the Delta variant than those infected with the original coronavirus strain, Nature reported.

The study found that people infected with the Delta variant of Covid-19 produce far more virus than those infected with the original version of coronavirus making it very easy to spread. According to current estimates, the Delta variant could be more than twice as transmissible as the original strain of SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing Covid-19. The variant, which was first identified in India in late 2020, has now become the predominant strain and has spread to at least 111 countries.

The Researchers tracked 62 infect3d who were quarantined after exposure to Covid-19 and tested their viral load every day throughout the course of infection to see how it changed over time. Researchers then compared participants' infection patterns with those of 63 people who contracted the original SARS-CoV-2 strain in 2020. The findings, posted preprint, showed that the virus was first detectable in people with the Delta variant four days after exposure. On the other hand, the original strain took an average six days to be present in people. This suggests that Delta replicates much faster, said epidemiologist Jing Lu at China's CDC. People infected with Delta also had viral loads up to 1,260 times higher than those in people infected with the original strain, the study found.

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