Delta variant accounts for 99% of global Covid cases: WHO
Darpan News Desk IANS, 17 Nov, 2021 09:10 AM
Geneva, Nov 17 (IANS) The delta variant now represents 99 per cent of all sequenced Covid-19 cases across the globe, making it most prevalent than any other strain, officials from the World Health Organization said.
According to Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO's technical lead on Covid, almost all of the up to 900,000 Covid cases sequenced worldwide over the last 60 days originated from the delta strain, CNBC reported.
Van Kerkhove's comments come amid an international increase in Covid infections driven by surging cases in Europe. The Continent accounted for roughly 60 per cent of the more than 3.3 million new cases in the world last week, Van Kerkhove said.
"Delta is really the dominant one," Van Kerkhove said. "And there are two variants of interest - mu and lambda - that we've been tracking as well, but again, where delta is present, delta takes over."
Van Kerkhove said Europe represented more than half of the just under 50,000 global Covid deaths in the last week, a 5 per cent increase in fatalities across the Continent. Covid cases worldwide have been increasing over the last four consecutive weeks, she added.
"The pandemic is heading in the wrong direction at the moment," Van Kerkhove said.
The decreased use of masks and social distancing are to blame for Europe's surge, Van Kerkhove said at a briefing last week. She cautioned on Tuesday that societies reopening across the Northern Hemisphere this winter could lead to a rise in respiratory illnesses over the months ahead, including influenza and other pathogens, the report said.
In its weekly epidemiological update, the WHO said that the increasing trend in new global weekly cases continued with over 3.3 million new cases reported -- a 6 per cent increase as compared to the previous week.
The Region of the Americas, the European and the Western Pacific Regions all reported increases in new weekly cases as compared to the previous week, while all other regions reported stable or declining trends.
Globally, just under-50,000 new deaths were reported, similar to the previous week. As of 14 November, over 252 million confirmed cases and over 5 million deaths have been reported.
His comments drew nationwide condemnation from human rights activists and the country’s opposition, which sought an apology. The controversial statements aired over the weekend came in an interview on Axios, a documentary news series on HBO.
Chancellor Angela Merkel says while Germany has low numbers of coronavirus infections, the “aggressive” delta variant could lead to a rise in new cases.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Rochelle Walensky says she expects the delta variant will become the dominant coronavirus strain in the United States. The delta variant, first detected in India, has become dominant in Britain.
The White House is expressing growing certainty that July 4th will serve as a breakthrough moment in the nation’s recovery. That's even though the U.S. is not expected to quite reach its goal of having 70% of adults vaccinated by the holiday.
A new analysis of blood samples from 24,000 Americans taken early last year is the latest and largest study to suggest that the new coronavirus popped up in the U.S. in December 2019 — weeks before cases were first recognized by health officials.
