학술논문
Genomic characterization and epidemiology of an emerging SARS-CoV-2 variant in Delhi, India
CORONAVIRUS
CORONAVIRUS
Document Type
Academic Journal
Author
Dhar, Mahesh S.; Marwal, Robin; V.S., Radhakrishnan; Ponnusamy, Kalaiarasan; Jolly, Bani; Bhoyar, Rahul C.; Sardana, Viren; Naushin, Salwa; Rophina, Mercy; Mellan, Thomas A.; Mishra, Swapnil; Whittaker, Charles; Fatihi, Saman; Datta, Meena; Singh, Priyanka; Sharma, Uma; Ujjainiya, Rajat; Bhatheja, Nitin; Divakar, Mohit Kumar; Singh, Manoj K.; Imran, Mohamed; Senthivel, Vigneshwar; Maurya, Ranjeet; Jha, Neha; Mehta, Priyanka; A., Vivekanand; Sharma, Pooja; V.R., Arvinden; Chaudhary, Urmila; Soni, Namita; Thukral, Lipi; Flaxman, Seth; Bhatt, Samir; Pandey, Rajesh; Dash, Debasis; Faruq, Mohammed; Lall, Hemlata; Gogia, Hema; Madan, Preeti; Kulkarni, Sanket; Chauhan, Himanshu; Sengupta, Shantanu; Kabra, Sandhya; Gupta, Ravindra K.; Singh, Sujeet K.; Agrawal, Anurag; Rakshit, Partha
Source
Science. November 19, 2021, Vol. 374 Issue 6570, p995, 5 p.
Subject
Language
English
ISSN
0036-8075
Abstract
Delhi, the national capital of India, experienced multiple severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) outbreaks in 2020 and reached population seropositivity of >50% by 2021. During April 2021, the city became overwhelmed by COVID-19 cases and fatalities, as a new variant, B.1.617.2 (Delta), replaced B.l.1.7 (Alpha). A Bayesian model explains the growth advantage of Delta through a combination of increased transmissibility and reduced sensitivity to immune responses generated against earlier variants (median estimates: 1.5-fold greater transmissibility and 20% reduction in sensitivity). Seropositivity of an employee and family cohort increased from 42% to 87.5% between March and July 2021, with 27% reinfections, as judged by increased antibody concentration after a previous decline. The likely high transmissibility and partial evasion of immunity by the Delta variant contributed to an overwhelming surge in Delhi.