The delta coronavirus variant, first found in India, could become a dominant strain in the U.S. this summer, said Rochelle Walensky, director of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), reports The Washington Post.
More transmissible
“It is more transmissible than the alpha variant, or the U.K. variant that we have here,” Walensky said in an interview with ABC on Friday.
“We saw that quickly become the dominant strain in a period of one or two months, and I anticipate that is going to be what happens with the delta strain here,” she added.
Also recently, WHO’s chief scientist Dr. Soumya Swaminathan said “The Delta variant is well on its way to becoming the dominant variant globally because of its increased transmissibility.”
Delta variant to have a heavy impact
This highly contagious variant has already led to the onset of the third wave of coronavirus in the U.K.On Friday, U.K. recorded 11,007 new Covid-19 cases in 24 hours, with the emergence of the Delta variant, pushing above the 10,000 figure for the first time since late February.
UK to postpone planned relaxation
In view of the recent surge, U.K. authorities have postponed the planned relaxation of pandemic restrictions. U.S. President Joe Biden has urged all unvaccinated Americans to get inoculated, warning that the Delta variant could lead to more deaths.
“The new variants will leave unvaccinated people even more vulnerable than they are or were a month ago. This is a serious concern… It`s a variant that is more easily transmissible, potentially deadlier and particularly dangerous for young people,” Biden said during a White House press conference recently.
Rate of mutations peak in third wave
“Right now, in the United States, it’s about 10% of infections. It’s doubling every two weeks,” Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former FDA commissioner said recently.
“That doesn’t mean that we’re going to see a sharp uptick in infections, but it does mean that this is going to take over.”
“The mRNA vaccine seems to be highly effective, two doses of that vaccine against this variant. The viral vector vaccines from J&J and AstraZeneca also appear to be effective, about 60% effective. The mRNA vaccines are about 88% effective,” he said, referring to the vaccines developed by Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech. “So we have the tools to control this and defeat it. We just need to use those tools.”
89.3% transmissible variant detected
In Russia, the number of coronavirus cases attributed to the Delta variant has risen significantly in recent weeks. The highly transmissible variant was detected in 89.3% of all Covid patients in the Russian capital.
On Friday, Moscow reported 9,056 new cases, the highest daily figure the city has witnessed since the pandemic first began.
Following the recent surge in U.K., France, and Germany’s leaders are cautioning people to remain vigilant against the Delta variant.
Singapore on delta variant
On May 31, Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong first signaled that the Delta variant had led to a fresh bout of Covid cases in the country.
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Source: Seeking Alpha
