Indian gov't study finds Delta variant primary cause behind 2nd wave of COVID-19

NEW DELHI - A government study has found the COVID-19 variant first found in India and known as Delta variant or the B.1.617.2 strain was behind the second surge of the pandemic in the country, local media here reported Friday.

The study carried out by Indian SARS COV2 Genomic Consortia (INSACOG) and the National Centre for Disease Control said the Delta variant is "more infectious" than the Alpha variant.

INSACOG is a consortium of labs undertaking genome sequencing in India.

The B.1.617 variant and its lineage B.1.617.2 were primarily responsible for the surge in COVID-19 cases with a high transmissibility of 50 percent more than Alpha variant (B.1.1.7) found in Britain, the study says.

Detection of B.1.1.7 VOC (variant of concern) was minimal until January 2021, increasing to about 20 percent in February and 40 percent in March 2021. This was associated with slight increase in Rt from about 1.2 to 1.6. B.1.617 lineages increased from below 5 percent in February 2021 to about 10 percent in March before overtaking B.1.1.7 in April and rising to about 60 percent of all samples, according to the study.