Nearly all new coronavirus cases within the uk are the Delta variant of the virus, a strain first identified in India and one worrying health officials within the us , where it’s been named a “variant of concern.”
Public Health England data shows that the Delta variant accounts for 99% of sequenced COVID-19 tests within the U.K. a minimum of 33,630 cases of the variant were identified last week, bringing the U.K.’s total to a minimum of 75,953 cases of the Delta strain.
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Data also shows that there’s an increased risk of hospitalization with the Delta variant.
As of Flag Day , PHE reports a complete of 806 people within the hospital with the variant, a rise of 423 since last week.
Despite its severity, PHE said that two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine provides quite 90% protection against hospitalization. of these hospitalized with the variant, 527 people were unvaccinated and just 84 people of the 806 had received both doses of a COVID-19 vaccine.
While PHE says the case deathrate is low for the Delta variant, it acknowledges that it’s “too early to guage the case fatality of Delta” compared to the previously dominant strain within the U.K., mentioned as Alpha, or other mutations of the virus.
Dr. Jenny Harries, chief executive of the U.K. Health Security Agency, said Delta cases are “rising rapidly across the country” and therefore the “Delta variant is now dominant.”
“The increase is primarily in younger age groups, an outsized proportion of which were unvaccinated but are now being invited to receive the vaccine,” Harries said. “It is encouraging to ascertain that hospitalizations and deaths aren’t rising at an equivalent rate but we’ll still monitor it closely. The vaccination program and therefore the care that we are all taking to follow the guidance are continuing to save lots of lives.”
She urged those receiving COVID-19 vaccines to “make sure that you simply come to the fore to receive both doses.”
In the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention upgraded the Delta variant to a “variant of concern” earlier in the week due to its increased transmissibility. New research suggested that the variant nearly doubles the danger of hospitalization compared to the previously dominant strain within the U.K.
However, the study also found that two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech or AstraZeneca vaccine provide protection against the Delta strain.
The World Health Organization is additionally showing concern regarding the variant. Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, chief scientist for WHO, said during a news conference that the strain is on its thanks to becoming the dominant mutation across the world due to its “significantly increased transmissibility.”
WHO officials report that 80 countries have reported cases of the Delta variant, which the organization designated a variant of concern in early May.
