More than a year into the global pandemic, COVID-19 is still impacting lives, economies and societies around the world. The overall number of confirmed deaths since the outset of the pandemic constitutes a terrible toll of more than four million. One new area of concern has been the emergence of variants of the virus, making it more transmissible. In particular, the Delta variant was responsible for the devastating loss of life in India during April and May and has since become the dominant variant in countries around the world.