As the pandemic continues, variants have become the latest concern. Currently, several variants of COVID-19 virus are creating havoc in many parts of the world.

Viruses constantly change through mutations. When a virus has one or more mutations, it is called as variant of the original virus. Most of the times, the mutation may be harmless or even make the virus weaker and quietly disappear without any notable difference but other times, a series of mutation occur that give the virus a slight edge over us. Longer the virus is around and the more people it infects, the more it will change. The more those changes accumulate, the more chances the virus has to evolve into something more dangerous i.e., a new variant.

The four variants are considered ‘variant of concern’ by WHO. They are :

1. ALPHA / UK VARIANT (B.1.1.7) - It has 20 mutations. These mutations in the virus increases infectivity by making it easier for virus to bind with human cells. This make the virus more transmissible and led it become a dominant strain around the world. It might have increased risk of hospitalization and even deaths.
2. BETA / SOUTH AFRICA VARIANT (B.1.351) - It has 3 mutations. But due to some mutation in spike protein led this variant to become less transmissible than alpha variant. It reduces the effectiveness of antibodies generated by monoclonal preparations or by a previous COVID infection.
3. GAMMA / BRAZIL VARIANT (P.1) - It has 4 mutations which makes it more contagious in nature and have the ability to re-infect. Some mutation helps the virus to dodge the antibodies. This variant may be more virulent but further researches are still going on.
4. DELTA VARIANT / DOUBLE MUTANT (B.1.617) - It emerged in India. Mutations seems to make the virus more transmissible and make it easier for virus to re-infect people who have already had COVID. More researches are required to study this variant.

DELTA PLUS VARIANT (B.1.617.2) - It is the most recent addition to list of variants of COVID-19 virus. It is basically the mutated form of delta variant. It is more contagious than other variants and avoid immune responses. It would create more havoc if proper safety measures are not taken.

The rise of variants is a reminder that the pandemic isn't over even if it feels like to some of us. As long as pandemic continues and as long as virus continues to spread, it will continue to make copies of itself. So if we want to stop the variant, we need to stop the virus.