Delta Variant

Introduction

After the vast spread of COVID-19 and its variants worldwide. A new variant was observed in India which was lately named as the ‘’Delta variant’’ by scientists and researchers. After the discovery of the variant ‘’Delta’’ the whole term COVID got replaced with it as 90% of the global cases were being caused due to this variant. WHO called it the variant of interest or the variant of concern. Let’s get in depth with the study of this variant of concern.

The Delta Variant called as the Variant of Concern by WHO has been known as such due to its increasing transmission and its ability to cause severe diseases in its patients.

The Delta virus was reported as a deadly virus when it was reported that it spread in 15 out of 22 countries in the region. According to a recent report of GSAID the Delta variant has spread in more than 78 countries around the globe. Most notably this strain is spreading in Britain, India, Indonesia and Russia.

First Identified: India, October-2020

Transmission Rate

Researchers and Scientists have found that the delta virus has a transmission rate of 40-60% greater than that of Alpha virus and other previous strains. It has also been reported that it grows twice as quickly as compared to the original strain from Wuhan strain of COVID-19.

The Delta variant is known to be the “fittest and fastest growing’’ virus as it is found to be present 1000 times greater in a patient’s throat than other variants.

Is the Delta variant more contagious than previous variants?

The Delta variant is far more contagious than previous strains; it spreads far more quickly than other variants. However, scientists and researchers advise to adopt the precautions used for the older strains. It is advised to maintain a minimum distance of 1 meter. Also staying at home and avoiding unnecessary outings along with wearing a mask is considered important.

Is the Delta variant affecting more unvaccinated people?

Most of the people that are being affected by Delta virus are unvaccinated. Almost 97% of the people that are affected by Delta virus have not received vaccination for it.Vaccines are highly effective against the prevention of Delta virus.

According to various research areas in California that had a lower vaccination rate had more rate of infectivity with the fatal virus as compared to other areas.

Can vaccinated people also get affected by the Delta Variant?

No vaccine is seen to be 100% effective against COVID-19. However, none of the people who are vaccinated is seen to have such a severe case that can lead to severe hospitalisation and death. Most of the vaccines have 90% efficacy against prevention for COVID. Although health experts say that 10% of the people can be affected by this fatal virus.

The people who are initially vaccinated have a lower chance of infection and if they get affected than most of the people either show no symptoms or very mild symptoms. These people can show such a low infection that it may feel that they are having cough, fever and a significant loss of smell. According to the report prepared by the Centre of Disease Control and Prevention in the US only 0.005% of the vaccinated people have shown breakthrough or severe cases of the COVID infectivity.

Is the Delta variant more dangerous than the previous variants of COVID-19?

These recent reports from US researchers say that the Delta variants account for more than 90% of the total cases reported for pandemic causing COVID of the symptoms for the Delta variant are similar to the previous variants. Fever, runny nose, headache and body aches are similar to the previous strains. However, loss of smell and cough is additional for this strain.

Furthermore, some researchers also say that the Delta variant is more severe than other strains as it can lead to additional body aches and impairments like: gastrointestinal issues, hearing impairments, gangrene and blood clots leading to the death of respective tissues.

Some of the research confirms that hospitalisation in unvaccinated people affected from Delta variant is more common as compared to unvaccinated people that are affected from the alpha variant.

Takeaways:

WHO is emphasising on countries to get people vaccinated as quickly as possible. It is advised to the high income countries to donate the doses of vaccines to low income countries. WHO is planning to get most of the world vaccinated at the end of 2021. Also there is a plan to get 70% of the people vaccinated by the mid of 2022. This situation is only possible if the countries with high income provide doses of vaccination to the countries with low income.

Reference and Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variants_of_SARS-CoV-2
https://www.financialsamurai.com/covid-variant-investment-thesis/
https://jerseyeveningpost.com/news/world-news/2021/11/13/angela-merkel-urges-unvaccinated-germans-toget-the-jab-as-soon-as-possible/
https://covid.joinzoe.com/post/covid-clusters
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/history-of-pandemics-deadliest/
https://www.unicef.org/coronavirus/what-you-need-know-about-delta-variant
https://asm.org/Articles/2021/July/How-Dangerous-is-the-Delta-Variant-B-1-617-2
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)01358-1/fulltext

Delta Variant: Introduction, Transmission Rate, Symptoms and vaccination