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The delta variant of SARS-CoV-2: What do we know about it?


the World Health Organization
Public Health England
PHE
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
CDC
Food and Drug Administration
FDA
the National Institute of Allergy
the Department of Infectious Disease
Imperial College London
King’s
National Health Service (
NHS
ZOE
COVID-19
Pfizer-BioNTech
Moderna
Johnson & Johnson
AstraZeneca
Medical News Today
MNT


Scott Gottlieb
Anthony S. Fauci
Wendy Barclay
Tim Spector


COVID-19
British
mRNA


South

No matching tags


B.1.617.2
India
the United Kingdom
the United States
U.K.
U.S.
B.1.1.7
Wuhan

No matching tags

Positivity     37.00%   
   Negativity   63.00%
The New York Times
SOURCE: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/the-delta-variant-of-sars-cov-2-what-do-we-know-about-it
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Summary

Since then, this variant has been reported in 80 countries, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).Recently, there have been concerns — particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States — that the delta variant could give rise to another COVID-19 wave, thus setting back national and international efforts to ease pandemic restrictions.According to the latest report from Public Health England (PHE), the delta variant may have become the dominant variant in the U.K., with “74% of sequenced cases [of SARS-CoV-2 infection] and 96% of sequenced and genotyped cases” being caused by this variant.In the U.S., data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) put the proportion of new COVID-19 cases attributed to the delta variant at 2.7%. Tim Spector, co-founder of ZOE, warns that SARS-CoV-2 infections are “acting differently now, […] more like a bad cold,” which may tempt people to dismiss the symptoms.“It might just feel like a bad cold or some funny ‘off’ feeling — but do stay at home and do get a test,” he urges.Recently, a group of scientists called for the reintroduction of stricter safety measures in schools in the U.K. to curb the spread of the delta variant.Given the data on delta’s increased transmissibility, some scientists have suggested that this may increase the risk of a further COVID-19 wave.Modeling projections from Imperial College London indicate that the delta variant may significantly increase the risk of hospitalizations with COVID-19, exposing the U.K. to the possibility of a third wave, similar to the one the country experienced last winter.Following concerning reports of the spread of this variant, the British government has already delayed the end of the pandemic restrictions in the country by 4 weeks.Dr. Gottlieb also warned that the U.S. might experience further COVID-19 outbreaks because of this highly transmissible variant.“I think in parts of the country where you have less vaccination, particularly in parts of the South, where you have some cities where vaccination rates are low, there’s a risk that you could see outbreaks with this new variant,” he suggested.For this reason, he encouraged people to get fully vaccinated against COVID-19, noting that the vaccines currently authorized in the U.S. appear to hold up well against the emerging variant.“The mRNA vaccine [Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna] seems to be highly effective, two doses of that vaccine against this variant.

As said here by Maria Cohut, Ph.D.