KiniGuide: What is it with the Delta variant?

KINIGUIDE | It has been nearly a year since the Covid-19 Delta variant was first detected on Sept 7, 2020, and subsequently took over the world by storm.

It proved fitter than all Covid-19 variants that came before, driving the outbreak in India in February and spreading to at least 132 countries across the globe.

In that time, many painful lessons have been learned from this dangerous new foe that had the US Centres for Disease Control (CDC) reckoning “the war has changed”.

While our understanding of the Delta variant is still evolving, this instalment of KiniGuide will attempt to sum up what we know so far.

What is the Delta variant?

The Delta variant (also known as B.1.617.2) is a variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that is distinguished from other variants by several key mutations.

The variant was first sequenced on Sept 7 last year, but the significance of those mutations did not become clear until months later when it propelled the outbreak in India...