Italy became the fifth country in the world with the largest Delta variant draw

Delta variant already accounts for 26% of total coronavirus cases recorded in Italy, which makes the country the fifth in the world by the circulation of this strain detected for the first time in India.

The percentage was derived from an analysis published by the British newspaper Financial Time from the genetic sequences of the virus deposited in the international genetic database Gisaïd and in data from the Belgian research institute Sciensano. Estimates also indicate that the Delta variant is already dominant in Great Britain and Portugal, where the diffusion is 98% and 96%, respectively. It is followed by the United States with 31%, Italy (26%), Belgium (16%), Germany (15%), France (6.9%).

The Italian data would be much higher than the last figure reported by the Higher Institute of Health (ISS), the expert group that the government advises, which estimated the circulation of the new variant in the country at 1%.

Analysis of Financial Time also indicates that in Great Britain, Portugal and Russia the increase in the circulation of the Delta variant corresponds to a gradual decrease in the circulation of the Alpha variant (B.1.1.7), first detected in the UK. The same has not been true for the moment in the United States, Italy, Belgium and Germany, where the Alpha variant still seems to be dominant.

On another side, The reasons for the different rate of spread of the Delta variant in Europe remain to be clarified. For the moment, experts agree that one of the main countermeasures is to speed up vaccination campaigns to slow down the circulation of the virus as much as possible. “There is a message on which we must all be very clear: it is not over “he said to Financial Time virologist Bruno Lina, from ‘Claude Bernard’ University in Lyon.

A more contagious strain

Much more contagious than the Alpha variant, which appeared at the end of 2020 in Kent, in the south-east of England, Delta began to spread mainly in the English North West before spreading to the rest of the UK, especially in young people not yet vaccinated with the first of the two doses of the preparation.

An investigation by PHE, an agency of the UK Department of Health, found that the Delta variant is associated with a 64% higher probability of transmission at home compared to the Alpha variant.

Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO COVID-19 technical director, also said on Twitter that the Delta variant is more transmissible than the Alpha variant and the original coronavirus.

This variant is attributed to recent resurgence of cases in countries like the UK, despite the good pace of the population’s vaccination plan, and Russia.

Due to this situation, the government of Boris Johnson He decided report four weeks, until July 19, last restrictions lifted, while the russian authorities vaccination declared compulsory Yes they evaluate the issuance of new quarantines.

For its part, Italy imposed obligation to carry out coronavirus test and five-day quarantine on citizens of Great Britain and extended the ban on entering the country to citizens from India, Bangladesh Yes Sri Lanka.

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