08 July,2021 07:05 AM IST | Houston | Agencies
People wearing facemasks outdoors are seen at a Covid-19 vaccine site in Los Angeles, California. Pic/AFP
The highly contagious Delta variant has become the dominant Coronavirus strain in the US, accounting for more than 51 per cent of Covid infections in the country, according to new data released by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. The variant, also known as B.1.617.2, was first detected in India in December and is spreading quickly across the globe. In some parts of America, the Delta strain accounts for more than 80 per cent of new infections, including some Midwestern states like Missouri, Kansas and Iowa.
It is already causing 74.3 per cent of infections in western states, including Utah and Colorado, and 58.8 per cent of infections in southern states like Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma, according to CDC estimates.
New Covid infections with the Delta variant now account for 51.7 per cent of the infections. The B.1.1.7 or Alpha variant makes up for 28.7 per cent cases after remaining a dominant variant for months, the data said. "If ever there was a reason to get vaccinated, this is it," Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN on Tuesday.
The variant poses a "significant threat," to unvaccinated people, said the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. He said the variant was not only more transmissible, but it can also cause more severe disease. Experts believe it is expected to be the most dominant strain in the country in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, the UK's Health Secretary Sajid Javid said that people who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 will not have to self-isolate if they are in close contact with an infected person starting from August 16 onwards. Javid told lawmakers in Parliament on Tuesday that the same policy would also apply to anyone under the age of 18 from that date, reports Xinhua news agency. The government would give more details later this week on self-isolation rules for international travellers, he added.
Indonesia on Wednesday imposed stricter Covid-19 restrictions in 43 cities and districts outside the islands of Java and Bali, a minister said. At a virtual press conference, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto said with the new restrictions, the government is planning to add more hospital beds and reduce the public mobility in some cities and districts.
The Japanese government will launch a databank of infectious diseases later this month to help fight Covid-19, starting with a plan to collect statistics on 10,000 infected patients by March 2022, local media reported on Wednesday. The government will first collect blood and saliva samples along with the treatment records of infected patients.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said that he supported the lifting of all Covid-19 restrictions once a vaccine has been offered to everyone in the country. When this is achieved, there is "no longer a legal or political justification for any kind of restriction," Maas told the German Press Agency on Tuesday, adding that he expected this to happen during August. A narrow majority of Germans are in favour of lifting all curbs for fully vaccinated people by September.
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1,58,055
No. of new cases reported globally in the past 24 hours
18,48,03,266
Total no. of cases worldwide
39,96,325
Total no. of deaths worldwide
Source: WHO/Johns Hopkins
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