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People infected with the more transmissible Indian ‘Delta’ variant have a viral load 300 times higher than those with the original version of the COVID-19 virus, according to a new study.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) announced the results on Tuesday.
Viral loads were highest when symptoms were first seen, then gradually decreased over time.
The higher load means the virus spreads much more easily from person to person, increasing infections and hospitalizations, Health Department official Lee Sang-won said at a conference. hurry.
The researchers also found that the variant is twice as infectious as the original viral strain.
Korean health officials have found that COVID-19 patients with the Indian ‘Delta’ variant have 300 times higher viral loads and are twice as contagious as people with the original strain of virus (archive photo)
“This doesn’t mean that Delta is 300 times more contagious… we think its transmission rate is 1.6 times the Alpha variant and about twice the original version of the virus,” Lee said.
The Delta variant is a highly contagious strain of the virus originating in India and first discovered in Maharashtra, where Mumbai is located.
It has since swept the world and is now the dominant strain in the United States, accounting for 99% of all new cases.
The Delta variant is more contagious than the British Alpha variant, which was first detected in Kent, a county in south-eastern England.
It is considered to be more contagious than the original strain of the virus that appeared in late 2019.
The South Korean study compared the viral load of 1,848 patients infected with the Delta variant with 22,106 people who had other strains.
Researchers have found that viral loads when infected with the Delta variant are 300 times higher when symptoms first appear.
Viral loads go from 300 times higher on the first day a person experiences symptoms, to 30 times in four days, and more than ten times in nine days – and they match levels seen in other variants after ten days.
A viral load is the density of the virus found in the blood and other fluids of an infected person.
The higher the viral load, the more likely a person is to transmit the virus to another person.
Viral loads for the Delta variant are also the same amount in vaccinated and unvaccinated people, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
For this reason, it is believed that the variant is capable of causing breakthrough cases at an increased rate compared to other variants.
Hospitalizations, however, remain low among those vaccinated, even when they contract the Delta variant.
Korean researchers have found that the viral load is highest when a person begins to experience symptoms, which matches the results of a recent Chinese study, which suggests that people with COVID-19 are the most contagious in the world. when they feel the first symptoms.
To prevent the spread of the Delta variant, the KDCA has urged people to get tested immediately when they develop symptoms of COVID-19 and to avoid face-to-face meetings.
The rapid spread of the Delta variant and low vaccination rates have taken much of Asia by surprise, especially in emerging markets, even as the economies of Europe and North America reopen.
South Korea reported 1,509 new cases of the coronavirus on Monday, bringing the total to 239,287 infections since the start of the pandemic, with 2,228 deaths.
Authorities vaccinated 51.2% of its 52 million people with at least one dose of the vaccine, while 23.9% were fully vaccinated.
In the United States, cases have increased 30% in the past two weeks, from 116,000 new cases per day on August 9 to 150,000 new cases per day on August 23.
This is the first time the country has eclipsed the daily average of 150,000 new cases since the end of January.
Just over 71% of the vaccine-eligible U.S. population, anyone aged 12 or older, has received at least one injection of a COVID-19 vaccine.
More than 60 percent of eligible Americans are fully immunized.
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