Delta COVID variant is now a dominant strain around the world, US deaths on the rise – officials

July 16 (Reuters) – The Delta variant of COVID-19 is now the dominant strain around the world, accompanied by a wave of deaths in the United States almost entirely among unvaccinated people, U.S. officials said on Friday.

In the United States, COVID-19 cases are up 70% from the previous week and deaths have increased by 26%, with outbreaks occurring in parts of the country with low vaccination rates, said the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Rochelle Walensky at a press briefing.

The seven-day daily average number of cases is now over 26,000, more than double its June low of around 11,000 cases, according to CDC data.

The largest increase in cases has been in Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Missouri and Nevada, White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients said. All of these states have lower than average vaccination rates.

“This is becoming an unvaccinated pandemic,” Walensky said, adding that 97% of people entering hospitals in the United States with COVID-19 are unvaccinated.

She said a growing number of counties in the United States are now at high risk of transmission of COVID-19, reversing significant declines in the risk of transmission in recent months.

About 1 in five new cases have occurred in Florida, Zients said.

The Delta variant, which is significantly more contagious than the original COVID-19 variant, has been detected in around 100 countries around the world and is now the dominant variant around the world, said Anthony Fauci, the US infectious disease expert. .

“We are dealing with a formidable variant” of COVID-19, Fauci said on the call.

Walensky urged unvaccinated Americans to get vaccinated against COVID-19, and said vaccines from Pfizer Inc and Moderna Inc have been shown to be particularly effective against the Delta variant.

She said people should receive the second dose of the vaccine even if they are past the recommended window of time to receive it.

About 5 million people have been vaccinated in the United States in the past 10 days, Zients said, many in states that have so far seen lower vaccination rates.

“Over the past week, the five states with the highest case rates – Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Missouri and Nevada – had a higher rate of newly vaccinated people,” he said.

The delta epidemics could increase demand for vaccines in the hardest-hit states, Michael Newshel, healthcare analyst at Evercore ISI, said in a note to clients. He added that residents of Utah and California were also seeking shots at an accelerated rate.

Zients added that the United States has enough vaccines to administer booster shots, but is still working to determine if boosters are needed.

Reporting by Carl O’Donnell, Jeff Mason and Lisa Lambert; Editing by Dan Grebler

Our Standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.