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The bumps on coronavirus’ surface are called spike proteins, which attach to human cells
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Delving into delta
■ Hi HIW,
What is the delta virus? How serious is it compared to COVID-19?
Vanessa Chen
This is a question that many readers may currently be wondering about. Delta is a variant of COVID-19, caused by genetic changes in the coronavirus. Viruses constantly mutate over time, which results in slightly new versions of the virus. Some of these changes will benefit the virus, helping it to spread and thrive, while others might weaken it.
The delta variant was first identified in India in October 2020, and is thought to be more infectious than the original virus. This version of the virus causes similar symptoms in people, but with slightly different outer proteins, it has spread quickly around the globe. Luckily, the relatively small mutations mean that the vaccines that have been developed for COVID-19 also work to protect people from the delta variant.