Delta variant slows escape from pandemic

The story: The coronavirus has the bad habit of ruining the best-laid plans. The delta variant, the fast-spreading version of the virus first detected

Delta variant slows escape from pandemic

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• The story: The coronavirus has the bad habit of ruining the best-laid plans. The delta variant, the fast-spreading version of the virus first detected in India in 2020, is changing the rules of the game as the world tries to exit the pandemic.
• British cries: In Britain, PM Boris Johnson announced that a long-planned final lifting of all coronavirus restrictions in England on June 21 would be delayed by four weeks because of the fast-spreading Delta variant, making up an estimated 90 percent of new cases in Britain. He reminded the public of the "remorseless logic of exponential growth”, adding that pushing back the full reopening of the country until July 19 will save thousands of lives.
• India's second wave: There was evidence of that remorseless logic, when India experienced a devastating surge as the delta variant spread widely. Although new daily cases in India fell from their peak later — a record-breaking roughly 4,00,000 a day in early May — they remained alarmingly high, with around 62,000 new daily cases reported on 16th June. Maria Van Kerkhove, the World Health Organization’s covid-19 technical lead, said that the delta variant had been detected in more than 80 countries around the world and that public health experts are keeping tabs on potential additional mutations.
• US situation: In the United States, the delta variant accounts for around 6 percent of new cases, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has added delta to its list of “variants of concern.” The variant may not yet change U.S. reopening plans, but combined with the slower than expected pace of vaccinations in recent weeks, it just might.

• Mutation opportunities: The problem is that the coronavirus has spread so far and wide that it has plenty of opportunity to mutate. The WHO has tracked more than 50 different strains. Though most are not considered of extra concern, four have been labeled as being of particular concern, one of which is B.1.617.2 — the scientific name of the delta variant. Since first detected in India in October 2020, researchers studied delta closely. They soon discovered that it has two mutations on the spike protein that help the coronavirus latch onto healthy cells. These have helped make the variant more infectious.

1. Delta is 60 percent more infectious than alpha, a variant first detected in Britain, according to U.K. officials.
2. The good news is that vaccinations still work well in protecting people who are fully vaccinated against the delta variant.
3. The U.K. studies show that both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines are highly effective at protecting against symptomatic disease when the full two-dose regime is administered (with efficacy rates of 88 percent and 60 percent, respectively).

• The evolution process: Although the delta variant emerged via natural processes, man-made factors have aided its spread. In Britain, the focus on prioritizing first doses may have come back to bite the country. Many critics of the government also say that restrictions on travel from India were put in place too late because of political concerns. In India itself, the wide spread of the variant this spring may have been helped by a combination of loosened government restrictions and a slow vaccine rollout.
• Summary: The delta variant has put a speed bump in the world’s path out of the pandemic.