86% COVID-19 Cases In People Who Were Immunised Caused By Delta Variant: Study

ICMR Study On COVID-19 Delta Variant: "The overall majority (86.09 per cent) of the breakthrough infections were caused by the Delta variant (B.1.617.2) of SARS-CoV-2 in different regions of India except for the northern region where the Alpha variant predominated," the study said.

The Delta variant of SARS-COV-2 was behind majority of clinical cases of breakthrough infection of COVID-19 but only 9.8 per cent cases required hospitalisation and fatality was observed in only 0.4 per cent cases, according to a new study by Indian Council of Medical Research or ICMR. Breakthrough infection is if one gets infected even after immunisation. The study, the largest and first nation-wide study of post-vaccination breakthrough infections from India, said its analysis shows that the vaccination does provide reduction in hospital admission and mortality. "Therefore, enhancing the vaccination drive and immunising the populations quickly would be the most important strategy to prevent further deadly waves of the COVID-19 and would reduce the burden on the health care system," the study said.