“The news is not as positive as we would like”
A variant of the coronavirus discovered in India known as “Delta” is 30-100% more infectious compared to the previously dominant strain, British COVID-19 expert Professor Neil Ferguson warned.
The coronavirus variant, first discovered in India (now renamed Delta), is 30-100% more transferable than the previously dominant alpha (or Kent) variant, according to Professor Neil Ferguson, whose modeling of the COVID situation was key during the first lockdown in the UK.
As noted by The Guardian, Neil Ferguson is a leading epidemiologist at Imperial College London who advised the government at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
The expert said on BBC Radio 4’s Today program: “We are definitely getting more data. Unfortunately, with regard to the Delta option, the news is not as positive as we would like it to be. The best estimate at the moment is that this option could be 60% more transferable than the Alpha option. [“кентский”]… There is some uncertainty in this, depending on the assumptions and how you analyze the data, it can be more transferable from 30% to maybe even up to 100%. “
As noted by The Guardian, these words of the expert sounded against the backdrop of the approaching date for lifting isolation in Britain, and June 21 is the estimated time when the British government is going to lift “all legal restrictions on social contacts”, although some rules of social distancing and wearing masks are still will remain.
British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said there are encouraging signs that vaccines are severing the link between infections and hospitalizations, as England’s Department of Health announced zero daily coronavirus deaths for the first time since last summer.
Recall that the other day it became known that the World Health Organization decided to name the new variants of the coronavirus not by geographical names, containing a reference to the places where these mutations were first discovered, but by the letters of the Greek alphabet. This decision was made, by and large, for reasons of political correctness, in order to avoid the “stigmatization” of those countries where new variants of COVID-19 are found. Some, for example: warn that the proliferation of the so-called “Indian” variant may contribute to racist behavior towards Indians. After Donald Trump repeatedly called the coronavirus “the Chinese virus”, according to human rights activists, the United States has seen an increase in hate crimes against immigrants from Asia. In addition, the scientific names of the coronavirus variants used in parallel – B.1.1.7, B.1.617.2 and B.1.351 – turned out to be too difficult to remember.
Henceforth, in accordance with the new system of the World Health Organization, the “Kent” variant of the coronavirus will be known as “Alpha”, the “Indian” variant as “Delta”, and the “South African” variant as “Beta”.
WHO said the new names will not replace existing scientific names, which include numbers, Latin letters and dots, which convey important scientific information and will continue to be used in research materials.
See also: “New surprises from the coronavirus: infections have become” instantaneous “
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