On the 18th (KST), the World Health Organization (WHO) predicted that the delta variant virus (India mutation virus), known to be more contagious than the alpha variant virus (UK mutation virus), will become the dominant species among the global COVID-19 variants. With an analysis that the delta variant is about 60% more contagious than the alpha variant, a study claims that if infected with the delta virus, there is a possibility that symptoms different than those of the existing corona patients will appear or there will be fewer asymptomatic patients.
Delta variant spreads to more than 80 countries... Although the domestic spread rate is low, concerns are growing
On the 18th, WHO announced that "Delta variant is becoming the dominant species worldwide due to their fast transmission and the progress has already progressed considerably." The delta variant is known to be more transmissible not only than the existing COVID-19 virus, but also 60% more transmissible than the alpha variant. The WHO estimates that currently delta variant has spread in more than 80 countries.
There is a realistic diagnosis that the delta variant has become the dominant variant in the UK, the epicenter of alpha variant. On the 21th (KST), the UK has extended all social distancing measures including the lockdowns to July 19th.
Last week, 13th~19th, there were 63,794 new cases in the UK, which is an increase of 33.2% than the previous week. The UK government has decided to delay the lifting of the lockdown measures as more than 90% of the new cases were confirmed to be infected with the delta variant.
As well as in the US, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reclassified the regulations for delta variant from "variant of interest" to "variant of concern" on the 15th (KST). According to CDC analysis, it is due to the fact that delta variant has been found in 41 states. Rochelle Walensky, the director of CDC, said "It has been shown that 10% of the latest confirmed cases are infected with delta variant" and estimated that it would become the dominant variant by mid August.
Although the delta infection rate is still low in Korea, the concerns are growing. On the 15th, the Central Epidemic Control Countermeasures Headquarters announced that from June 6th~12th, 226 cases infected with the four major variant were added. As of today, the cumulative number of variant cases is 1964 cases.
According to the announcement made on the 15th, among 226 new variant infected cases, the top variant case was alpha, with 192 cases. The second was delta variant with 30 cases, followed by beta variant (South African variant virus), then the gamma variant (Brazil variant virus) with 1 case. In particular, the delta variant case increased by 30 cases and the number of imported case was 22 cases, 8 more than the domestic case.
On the 21st, Jung Eun-Kyung, head of the Central Epidemic Control Countermeasures Headquarters said at the regular briefing, "In Korea, approximately 80% of the delta variant cases are the imported cases confirmed at the quarantine stage or at the area isolation stage and there are community cases confirmed" and "According to the analysis results from India and UK, where most delta variant cases occur, there are reports that delta variants have increased contagiousness and severity than the alpha variants, so we will continue to monitor the domestic influence on those parts"
"Delta variant has different symptoms than those of existing virus.. less likely to be asymptomatic"
As concerns on the delta variant are growing worldwide, new research related to delta variant, relatively less known than the existing mutated viruses, are being reported continuously.
First of all, there is an analysis that the symptoms of delta variant virus differs from those of existing COVID-19 variants. On the 14th (KST), the Tim Specter King's College London, UK announced the results of "ZOE COVID Symptom Study," where around 700,000 COVID patients reported their symptoms on the mobile application.
According to research, the main symptoms of the delta variant infection are headache, sort throat and runny nose. These are different from the previously known general symptoms of cough, high fever and loss of taste. The researchers pointed out that these main symptoms of delta variant infection may be easily taken for cold. In addition, symptoms including abdominal pain, vomiting ,loss of appetite, hearing loss and joint pain have also been reported.
On the 20th (KST), a research team at Johns Hopkins University in the US announced a study result in the Journal of the American Society of Microbiology that there is relatively low virus excretion from the upper respiratory tract in those infected with alpha and delta variant viruses. However, it is analyzed that the probability of death or severe disease progression cases is low, but as the probability of asymptomatic cases is also low, there may be an increased number of hospitalized patients. This may lead to an overload of the medical system.
The researcher said "It is not clear yet why the alpha and delta variants are more contagious" and "As a result of this study, patients infected with both variants do not have a high risk of death or hospitalization with extensive care unit, but there is also a low chance of being asymptomatic, suggesting that the number of hospitalized patients is likely to increase."
Source: 미국 영국 집어삼킨 '델타 코로나 변이'...새로 밝혀진 특성들 : 동아사이언스 (donga.com)
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