it is more deadly and requires recalibration of vaccination plans

The English Ministry of Health announced on Friday 11 June that The Delta variant of the coronavirus (Covid-19) is 60% more transmissible than the Alpha variant and it now comprises over 90% of new cases of contagion in the UK, i.e. the predominant variant.

Since last week, the number of cases of the Delta variant in the UK has increased by 243%, reaching more than 42,000 cases.

According to data from England’s Office for National Statistics, the number of Covid-19 cases in the country has reached a record high since April.

The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) reported that the number of R beaches for the UK has increased from 1.0 to 1.2, with the current growth rate rising from 0% to + 3% per day. The R number is a mechanism for evaluating a virus’s ability to spread, where R indicates the number of people to whom a single infected person can transmit the virus, which means that the number of cases could increase within weeks to come.

In May, the WHO established the Delta strain as a “variant of concern” based on data confirming its spread in 67 countries around the world.

The countries with the highest number of cases with the Delta variant are: United Kingdom (21,552); India (5,749); United States (2,097); Germany (633); Canada (360) and Singapore (295).

This new strain, unlike the original Covid-19, He has different and even more deadly symptoms. Some of the infected patients in India had hearing disturbances, joint pain, severe stomach upset, and blood clots to such an extent that they can generate some type of gangrene in the patients.

What is extremely serious is that according to a study by the British Department of Health, the vaccine of Pfizer has an efficiency of 88% against the Indian mutation after 2 doses. While that of AstraZeneca showed an effectiveness of 60% after the two doses, but only 33% with the first.

These data would imply a substantial change in the vaccination campaign, since at the time and taking into account the scarcity of vaccines, it had been decided to space out the second dose to widen the protected population base, taking into account the fact that vaccines after the first dose were over 60% effective with a single dose, but this new data changes everything.

The director of the health protection against emerging infections research unit at the University of Liverpool, Tom Salomon, said on Saturday that the country cannot afford to make “a bad decision and open the 21 June and weeks later to realize it was wrong “. and have to start over ”.

Faced with this, the British government would suspend announcements of the end of confinement in this country, in fact, the British government plans to postpone by at least four weeks, until the end of July, the final phase of its deconfinement plan, given the increase in contagion brought about by the Delta variant, the BBC reported on Saturday.

The United Kingdom had decided to declare June 21, the day of the beginning of summer in the northern hemisphere, as the day of the release of COVID-19, but unfortunately we will have to wait.

According to the BBC, the conservative executive, which is due to announce its decision next Monday, analyzes as a “first option” to postpone from the date scheduled for June 21 until July 19 or so the total lifting of social restrictions, which will lead to the opening of social restrictions. nightclubs. and the elimination of the limit on who can register, as well as possible travel arrangements.

Experts estimate that, even if deconfinement is postponed, the UK could reach 15,000 daily contaminations by June 21 and reach levels of contamination in July comparable to those of last January, when the current shutdown was imposed. .

Although infections linked to this strain have already been recorded in Argentina, official sources have claimed that there is still no community circulation in the country.

The Health Ministry said the cases are not new, as they were reported in early May in a statement posted on its website. They are two minors, originally from Paris and residents of the city of Buenos Aires.

A year and a half after the start of the pandemic, the Covid-19 continues to surprise and gives the feeling that it will never go away.