July 27, 2021
The delta variant spreads much faster than other Covid-19 strains—and scientists may now know why.
People infected with the delta variant have more than 1,260 times the viral load—the concentration of viral particles in the body—than those with the original strain found in China, a group of scientists has reported in a preprint paper. A higher viral load can have many implications such as more severe disease. Its most significant contribution is to a virus’s higher transmissibility.
Scientists at China’s Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention found, traced, and isolated 62 cases of the delta variant and conducted daily RT-PCR tests on those infected. These samples were then compared with data from the early 2020 outbreak in China, science journal Nature reported.