Coronavirus / Delta variant to account for 90% of new COVID cases in EU nations by Aug end: ECDC

Geneva: The Delta variant of coronavirus, which was identified for the first time in India, could singlehandedly account for 90 percent of the fresh infections in the European Union within the next three months, the EU’s disease control agency said on Wednesday.

“It is very likely that the Delta variant will circulate extensively during the summer, particularly among younger individuals that are not targeted for vaccination. 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 the EU,” Andrea Ammon, director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), said in a statement, according to news agency AFP.

The ECDC has estimated that the new Delta variant (B.1.617.2) is 40-60 percent more contagious than the Alpha variant (B.1.1.7) that was first discovered in the United Kingdom, currently the most predominant variant of the novel SARS-CoV-2 virus circulating in the EU.

“Around 70 percent of the new Covid-19 infections are projected to be due to this variant in the EU/EEA by early August and 90 percent of infections by the end of August,” the agency said.

The worldwide Covid-19 case tally crossed the 18 crore-mark on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, White House Chief Medical Advisor Dr Anthony Fauci warned that the highly contagious variant is the “greatest threat” to the United States’ attempt to eradicate the Covid-19 outbreak.

America’s leading infectious disease expert said that the Delta variant causes an even more severe disease than the other circulating variants and it now makes up for more than 20 per cent of all the new cases in the US, doubling from around 10 per cent two weeks back.

“Similar to the situation in the United Kingdom, the Delta variant is currently the greatest threat in the US to our attempt to eliminate COVID-19. However, the good news is that the US vaccines are effective against the Delta variant,” Fauci told reporters during a virtual briefing.