Delta variant of COVID-19 spreads around the world: everything you need to know about a dangerous mutation | Covid

Many countries around the world have begun to ease the quarantine associated with the coronavirus pandemic and return to a life similar to the previous one, but experts fear this development against the background of the spread Delta variant of COVID-19, which has already been found in 74 states. Not only does this variant spread more easily than earlier strains, but it can also cause more serious diseases. This is especially troubling for unvaccinated people and those with a weaker immune response to the virus.

Edition Healthline has collected all the facts you need to know about this dangerous mutation of the coronavirus. It is noted that while current vaccines are effective against this option, the strain will be more likely to mutate as unvaccinated people become infected with the virus.

Delta coronavirus symptoms

Doctors note that while sick with this strain of the virus, patients experience more severe symptoms than previously reported during a pandemic. It is common practice fever and more and more people become seriously ill within 3-4 days… In addition, the most frequently reported headache, sore throat and runny nose. Other symptoms include: cough, shortness of breath, headache, tiredness, or loss of smell or taste.

It is important to remember that even people with asymptomatic infections can pass the virus on to others.

How contagious is the Delta variant

As reported BBC News, UK Health Minister Matt Hancock said the Delta option is roughly 40% more transmissionthan Alpha, which previously dominated the country.

Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci at briefing in the White House on COVID-19 confirmed this thesis.

Hospitalization risk

It is noted that the analysis of more than 38 thousand cases of COVID-19 in England showed that people with the Delta variant were 2.61 times more likely to be admitted to hospitalthan people with the Alpha variant. Dr. Fauci explained that “this may be due to the increased severity of the disease.”

At the same time, it was found that in some areas where a large number of hospitalizations due to the Delta coronavirus were recorded, most of the patients were unvaccinated. This suggests that even with this option, full vaccination provides protection against more serious illness and hospitalization.

How vaccines affect

Study, published June 10 in the journal Nature, showed that 20 people who received two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine had enough antibodies in their blood to neutralize several variants, including Delta.

At the same time, a number of other studies have proven that one dose of the vaccine provides insufficient protection against the Delta variant, therefore there is need to get a second dose as soon as possible to as many people as possible.

Those at greatest risk from this mutation are people who have not been fully vaccinated and those who do not have a sustained immune response to vaccination, such as the elderly or those who are immunocompromised.

As reported OBOZREVATEL, the Delta coronavirus strain for the first time was discovered in India. Experts said that not only does it cause serious symptoms in infected people, but that it can “bypass” the immune defenses against vaccines, and that over time it can become dominant in the world.

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