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]]>Delta, which was first detected in India, has now been recorded in 124 territories — 13 more than last week — and already accounts for more than three-quarters of sequenced specimens in many major countries, the WHO said.
“It is expected that it will rapidly out-compete other variants and become the dominant circulating lineage over the coming months,” the UN health agency said in its weekly epidemiological update.
Of the three other coronavirus variants of concern (VOCs), Alpha, first detected in Britain, has been reported in 180 territories (up six from last week), Beta, first detected in South Africa, in 130 (up seven) and Gamma, first detected in Brazil, in 78 (up three).
According to SARS-CoV-2 sequences submitted to the GISAID global science initiative over the four weeks to July 20, the prevalence of Delta exceeded 75 percent in several countries.
Those included Australia, Bangladesh, Botswana, Britain, China, Denmark, India, Indonesia, Israel, Portugal, Russia, Singapore and South Africa.
“Growing evidence supports the increased transmissibility of the Delta variant as compared to non-VOCs. However, the exact mechanism for the increase in transmissibility remains unclear,” said the WHO.
(Except the headline, this story has not been edited by The Edge Media staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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]]>The post The people must remain vigilant about the Delta variant : Joe Biden appeared first on The Edge Media.
]]>The highly contagious Delta variant, also known as B.1.617.2, was first detected in India in December and is spreading quickly across the globe. In some parts of America, the Delta strain accounts for more than 80 per cent of new infections, including some Midwestern states like Missouri, Kansas and Iowa.
Earlier this month, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that new Covid infections with the Delta variant account for 51.7 per cent of the infections in the US.
Addressing his second Cabinet meeting on the completion of six months of his administration on Tuesday, Biden said that overall, Covid-19 deaths have come down dramatically. And in the last six months, they have come down by about 90 per cent due to the vaccination programme.
“But we have to stay vigilant, especially with the Delta variant that’s out there. While Covid-19 cases are rising, virtually all of the Covid deaths and hospitalisations are from unvaccinated people. Let me say it again: virtually all are from unvaccinated people,” he said.
He said the safest thing to do for the people is to get vaccinated. And “that’s why we’re focusing, on our next phase, on getting the unvaccinated vaccinated,” he added.
The White House has ramped up efforts to combat misinformation about the vaccines, especially in social media, and conduct more targeted outreach in communities across the country, including to young people.
Experts believe the Delta variant could be the most dominant strain in the country in the coming weeks.
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]]>The post Delta variant spreading at a great speed in Colombo appeared first on The Edge Media.
]]>We have noticed that between 25-30 per cent of new cases reported from Colombo are of the Delta variant,” Herath said.
The health officials said that about 35 cases of the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, have been found in Sri Lanka so far.
Sri Lanka is fighting the third wave of coronavirus. More than 1,000 new Covid-19 infections are recorded daily, in addition to nearly 50 deaths.
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]]>We just want people to stay at home. The virus won’t spread if people don’t leave home. That is the bottom line,” New South Wales state Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney on Monday. At the weekend, Australia’s most-populous city recorded its first death since April after the delta-strain leaked into the local community in mid-June.
The city of 6 million people has been in lockdown since June 26, and faces being increasingly isolated from the rest of the nation after Berejiklian indicated that the current stay-at-home orders may need to be extended beyond Friday. On Sunday, Victoria state implemented a hard border with its neighbor, and plans for an Australia-Singapore travel bubble have been delayed until at least the end of the year.
The outbreak is highlighting the problems nation’s tardy vaccine roll-out, which has been hit by supply-chain hold-ups from contracted drug-makers amid accusations from political rivals that Prime Minister Scott Morrison failed to secure enough doses from a wide-enough range of suppliers.
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]]>The post 2 Doses Of Vaccination Can Protect Against Delta Strain, Research Stated appeared first on The Edge Media.
]]>Marco Cavaleri, the EMA’s head of vaccination strategy, stated that the Amsterdam-based watchdog was “conscious of the concerns raised by the fast dissemination of the Delta strain.” Lab testing also revealed that antibodies derived from the vaccinations were capable of neutralising Delta, which is “extremely reassuring news.”
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