*The three countries, which have seen a heavy surge in the caseload in the recent past, are – the UK, Indonesia and South Africa.
*South Africa, on the other hand, has officially said that it has entered the third wave of the pandemic.
*COVID-19 has thrown up a gamut of symptoms on its victims so far. The common ones have been – the loss of sense of taste and smell, fever, and dry cough. In some cases, people suffered from diarrhea as well.
*The new strain – Delta plus variant – has been formed due to a mutation in the existing Delta or B.1.617.2 variant – the variant that originated from India. The Delta plus variant is seen as being resistant to monoclonal antibodies cocktail. This fresh mutated strain of Delta is said to have been first detected in Europe in March 2021, although it came to the fore only in early June.
