The Delta variant is now the dominant strain in Europe and the United States.
Many countries and regions today are seeing a continued surge of new COVID-19 cases due to the Delta variant. This is why officials and experts have repeatedly emphasized that the coronavirus pandemic is far from over.
The variant, which first emerged in India, has wreaked havoc across the country earlier this year. Little did the rest of the world know then that a similar scenario would happen in other nations.
Several countries have since experienced the new waves of the pandemic in their respective vicinities due to the highly transmissible strain. In Europe, it has now even become the dominant variant, according to Euro News.
The COVID-19 situation in Europe
On Friday, the World Health Organization confirmed that the Delta variant has already become the dominant strain in the continent. This then led the agency, alongside the European CDC, to warn countries about their respective reinforcements of efforts to prevent the further spread of the variant.
The WHO also noted that new cases of COVID-19 have continued to increase across Europe in the last few weeks. Over 68 percent of these transmissions were reportedly due to the variant of concern.
The health agency consequently asserted that it will be the “globally dominant strain” in the next few months. This comes as the variant continues to spread across the globe, “displacing the circulation” of other coronavirus strains.
About the new surges of infections in the U.S.
Earlier this month, the United States also acknowledged that the Delta variant had become the dominant strain in the country. The report first emerged from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on July 6, according to NBC News.
Based on the data at that time, the highly infectious strain accounted for 51.7 percent of new coronavirus cases in the United States. It was an apparent rise from the 30 percent figure just two weeks earlier.
Best COVID-19 vaccine against the Delta variant
Despite the growing fears and worries toward the B.1.617.2 strain, experts have repeatedly highlighted that the vaccines are effective against the variant. But, as for which of the jabs is the best choice in this equation, no one knows, the Deseret News reported.
The publication explained that there are a lot of “uncertain data” regarding the vaccines’ effect on the Delta variant. Nevertheless, studies have reportedly shown that the vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson are all “proven to be effective in varying degrees against the original variant of the coronavirus.”
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