The Ellerslie School Health and Safety Committee: What are the Delta, Gamma, Beta and Alpha Covid variants?

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Wednesday, October 20, 2021

What are the Delta, Gamma, Beta and Alpha Covid variants?

By Michelle Roberts

Health editor, BBC News online

19 October 2021

Officials are keeping a close watch on a new descendent of the Delta variant of Covid, which is causing a growing number of infections in the UK.

AY.4.2 - which some are calling "Delta plus"- has changes or mutations that might potentially help the virus survive more effectively.

Other current variants of concern include:

Alpha (B.1.1.7), first identified in the UK but which spread to more than 50 countries

Beta (B.1.351), first identified in South Africa but which has been detected in at least 20 other countries, including the UK

Gamma (P.1), first identified in Brazil but which has spread to more than 10 other countries, including the UK

Viruses mutate all the time and most changes are inconsequential. Some even harm the virus. But others can make the disease more infectious or threatening - and these mutations tend to dominate.