Delta Variant Of Coronavirus Or “Variant Of Concern”?
We’ve all been suffering from the spread of Coronavirus for over a year now. With the problem of the pandemic affecting everything from daily life to the world economic structure and stability, the problem seems to just re-emerge every time with a new wave. Unfortunately, these ramifications seem to make things worse. At present, the newest variant of Coronavirus threatening the world seems to be the Delta variant, according to CDC.
The frightening bit is that this variant, the Delta variant, has been labeled as the “variant of concern” or B.1.617.2 by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. So the obvious question that comes to mind is, “What makes this variant of the Coronavirus so dangerous?”
Coming straight from the scientists, the concern associated with this virus strain is that this variant of concern is way more transmissible. Not just that, it is also potentially way more dangerous and can cause much more severe illnesses and diseases. In fact, this variant may also reduce the efficacy of vaccines, medications, and tests.
According to the CDC, this variant of the Coronavirus has raised its head in India. Here are some of the characteristic features that this strain of the virus shows:
1. A visible increase in the ability to transmit.
2. Potential lowering of neutralization abilities with the aid of monoclonal antibody treatments in emergencies with emergency authorization.
3. The reports from lab tests also show “potential reduction in neutralization from sera after vaccination”.
This Coronavirus variant officially got the stamp of “variant of concern” from the World Health Organization on May 10. Even though there was a spark of hope with the Covid cases reducing significantly in the United States, this new variant has raised concerns again.
The steady stream of recovery got disrupted with the rapid spread of this new strain of the virus. As a result, even the effectiveness of the vaccine has reduced. Inexact words, “The CDC estimates it accounted for 9.9% of cases in the US as of June 5”.
Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, advised everyone to ensure that they get their vaccines on time to help protect themselves. This caution was issued as a critical warning to the United States to regulate the spread of the virus.
It was a preventative measure to help save the US from reaching the tipping point, similar to what happened in the UK. In the words of Fauci, “We cannot let that happen in the United States”.
On looking back, it can be seen that the Delta variant of the Coronavirus is highly responsible for causing about 10.3% of the new Covid 19 cases in the United States. Dr. Eric Topol has been extensively working on research about the different variants of Coronavirus throughout the pandemic period. The founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute warned that even though it might seem insidious at the moment, the speed is a cause of worry.
This is what he put it as, “It doubles every seven to 10 days, which means when it gets to three weeks from now, this variant will be dominant”. He also added, “That means we have two to three weeks to just go flat out with vaccination to stop this trend.”
However, there is a ray of hope. It has been found that people who complete both the vaccination doses have 79% protection against the Delta variant of the Coronavirus on average.
