The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) on Wednesday, 23 June, said that the Delta variant, first identified in India, could represent 90 percent of all new COVID-19 cases in the EU by the end of August.
“The Delta variant is more transmissible than other circulating variants and we estimate that by the end of August it will represent 90 percent of new cases in Europe” ECDC stated, AFP reported.
The Delta variant, or the B.1.617.2 strain, was found to be the primary reason behind India’s dangerous second wave of the coronavirus.
On 18 June, chief scientist at the World Health Organization, Soumya Swaminathan had said that the Delta variant of the coronavirus is becoming the globally dominant variant.
Further, it has now acquired the K417N spike mutation – to form the ‘Delta Plus’ or AY.1 variant, and is presently classified as a 'variant of concern' in India.
Besides being more transmissible, this new variant is also stronger in binding to receptors of lung cells and leads to potential reduction in monoclonal antibody response that can fight the disease, the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Consortium on Genomics (INSACOG) has found.
As per the Union Health Ministry said that India has recorded 40 cases of the Delta Plus variant so far.
(With inputs from AFP)
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