Many countries keeping vigil as variant spreads its tentacles
From spreading its tentacles to gaining ground in just a few weeks, Delta variant of Covid-19, first detected in India, has now made deep inroads into the UK, Germany and the US besides a few other developed countries.
These countries had recently claimed to “curb” the original virus. They are now again on the edge as the Delta variant cases have started spiralling, keeping the authorities on their toes.
“The Delta variant is well on its way to becoming the dominant variant globally because of its increased transmissibility,” Soumya Swaminathan, Chief Scientist of World Health Organisation (WHO), said recently. Just last month, the WHO had termed the Delta variant as a “variant of concern”.
The US too has classified the Delta variant of the coronavirus as a “variant of concern” saying that it now accounts for 10 per cent of Covid-19 infections in America, fearing that it may become the dominant strain if it is not contained.
So far, over 44 per cent of the US population (146 million people) are fully vaccinated. The US Government has a goal of vaccinating at least 70 per cent of its adult population with at least one dose by July 4. But with several studies showing that a second dose of vaccine effectively shutting the door on the variant, public health officials are urging people not to delay the second shot.
According to health experts, the variant is 50 per cent more transmissible than the original strain, engenders four times more hospitalisation risk, and can evade the first dose of vaccine.
The UK too is grappling with the vicious Delta variant. According to reports, for the first time in four months, the UK recorded 11,007 Covid-19 cases in 24 hours, driven mainly by the Delta variant.
Authorities said that the fresh surge has pushed the figure above 10,000 for the first time since late February.
In fact, the highly contagious Delta variant has thrown a spanner on the UK Government’s plan of lifting of remaining social and economic restrictions until July 19.
Several countries, including Russia and Indonesia, are now reporting a surge in Covid-19 cases due to the Delta variant raising apprehension if the available vaccines will be able to tackle the new form of mutated virus.
Raising concerns, Swaminathan too pointed out that highly transmissible variants boost the need for new, effective shots.
Russia too is facing a huge surge in the number of coronavirus cases attributed to the Delta variant. As per Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, the highly-transmissible variant was detected in 89.3 per cent of all Covid patients in the Russian capital.
Despite being credited to launch the world’s first vaccine, “Sputnik V”, last year, Russia has so far vaccinated just 9.9 per cent of its population, mainly because of the poor takers as well as people’s negligence in following Covid-19 norms.
German, Indonesia and Singapore are some other countries which are keeping a vigil on Delta variants and started a more aggressive contact tracing, testing and quarantine campaign to keep the infection at bay.