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- Published: June 29, 2021 20:05
New Delhi: Covid-19 Delta variant, the virus predominantly known for triggering disastrous second wave in India, has become a virus of concern even in many western countries. Today, as per the WHO, it is the most dominant virus globally and poses serious risk to recovery from pandemic.
United Kingdom, which was on way to recovery after devastating Covid-19 waves, has become the latest victim of Covid-19 Delta variant. Fresh cases have suddenly spiked due to this strain and today, it accounts for over 95% cases in UK.
According to Public Health England data, numbers of Delta (VOC-21APR-02) variant in the UK have risen by 35,204 since last week to a total of 111,157. This represents a 46% increase. It says, Delta variant now accounts for approximately 95% of cases that are sequenced across the UK.
Those infected with Delta variant also have an increased risk of hospitalisation, compared to Alpha strain.
Delta variant deals deadly blow to UK, young & 50+ both affected
The United Kingdom has recorded a total of 117 deaths in people with Delta coronavirus variant.
As of June 21, 92,029 cases of Delta have been confirmed by Public Health England (PHE), of which 117 ended in death. Of those cases, 109 were in those over the age of 50, reports a leading daily.
The data shows that there have been 117 deaths in England who had the delta variant, with the majority being in the over-50s age group. There have been 8 fatalities among under-50s, with 6 of them unvaccinated and other 2 had received one dose.
Above 50, Unvaccinated or those with 1 dose most vulnerable!
According to UK data, out of the 92,029 total Delta variant infections, almost 20,000 were recorded in people who had received 1 dose of Covid vaccine and 7,235 infections were confirmed in people who had received two doses.
Almost 82,500 of these total cases were recorded in people under 50 years old and a majority (53,822 cases) were found in unvaccinated individuals.
Are AstraZeneca, Pfizer not effective?
UK was among the first lot of nations to have started vaccinating people against the Covid-19 pandemic. Most of the ‘advanced’ vaccines including
AstraZeneca and Pfizer have been developed here and make up for the bulk of its vaccination program.
The sudden spurt in Covid-19 cases due to Delta variant raises questions on their efficacy, though experts insist that this doesn’t undermine the vaccine’s ‘shielding capacity.
Almost 85% of UK adults have now received 1 dose of vaccine while about 62% have received both doses.
Surge in fresh Covid-19 cases due to Delta variant seeks to destabilize UK’s fight against the pandemic. And, what poses bigger threat is the mutation of Delta strain into Delta + variant, which is understood to be far more infectious and detrimental.
UK Covid-19 resurgence, a blueprint for US?
UK’s experience of Covid-19 is also a sort of harbinger of things to come for other nations, including US.
In Alpha variant also, the virus first spread in South England and then went to become dominant across the world. Similar thing happened with delta variant that originated in India, but was identified in the UK at a relatively early stage.
Both strains have proved to be far more transmissible than the nove coronavirus that first emerged in China in late 2019.
In fact, about 20% cases of fresh infections in US are reported to have contracted the Delta variant.