Coronavirus security posters will be displayed in the window of the Sondheim Theater on June 14, 2021 in London, England. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has confirmed a four-week delay in the final relaxation of coronavirus restrictions amid concerns over the Delta variant of the virus and rising infection rates.
Rob Pinney | Getty Images
The highly contagious Delta variant is the fastest and strongest coronavirus strain to date and will “pick up” the most vulnerable people, especially in places with low Covid-19 vaccination rates, World Health Organization officials warned on Monday.
Delta, first identified in India, has the potential to be “more deadly because it is more efficient at transmitting between people and will eventually find those at risk who will become critically ill, hospitalized and potentially die”, said Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO emergency program, said at a press conference.
Ryan said world leaders and public health officials can help defend the most vulnerable by donating and distributing Covid vaccines.
“We can protect these vulnerable people, these frontline workers,” said Ryan, “and the fact that we didn’t, as General Manager (Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus) said time and again, is a catastrophic moral failure at a global level . “
The WHO said on Friday that Delta is becoming the predominant variant of the disease worldwide.
The agency declared Delta a “questionable variant” last month. A variant can be described as “worrying” if, according to the health organization, it has been shown to be more contagious, fatal, or more resistant to current vaccines and treatments.
Delta is now replacing Alpha, the highly contagious variant that swept Europe and later the United States earlier this year, said Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, in a recent interview.
Studies suggest it is about 60% more transmissible than alpha, which was more contagious than the original strain that emerged from Wuhan, China, in late 2019.
Delta has now spread to 92 countries, said Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO technical director for Covid, on Monday. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it now accounts for at least 10% of all new cases in the United States and is on its way to becoming the dominant variant in the nation.
In the United Kingdom, Delta recently became the predominant variant, surpassing its native alpha variant, which was first discovered in the country last fall. The Delta variant now accounts for more than 60% of new cases in the UK
WHO officials said there are reports that the Delta variant also causes more severe symptoms, but that more research is needed to confirm these conclusions. However, there is evidence that the Delta strain may cause different symptoms than other variants.
“This special Delta variant is faster, it is fitter, it will intercept the more susceptible ones more efficiently than previous variants. So if people are left without a vaccination, they are even at another risk, ”Ryan said on Monday.
