The WHO has issued a warning regarding the Delta variant.
- The WHO stated that the Delta Covid-19 variant may offset all the good work done against the virus.
- However, the body says that the vaccine has proven to be effective against it.
- Delta variants are highly spreadable.
The World Health Organization said on Friday that with the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant, the world may lose its hard-earned results in the fight against Covid-19, but the WHO-approved vaccine is still effective against the disease.
The Washington Post quoted internal CDC documents as saying that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has described the Delta variant of the coronavirus as contagious as chickenpox and warned that it may cause serious illness.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that in the past four weeks, Covid-19 infections have increased by 80% in most parts of the world. During the same period, the number of deaths in Africa—where only 1.5% of the population was vaccinated—increased by 80%.
Tedros said at the press conference: “The hard-won results are in danger or lost, and the health systems in many countries are overwhelmed.”
According to the World Health Organization, the Delta variant has been found in 132 countries/regions and has become the main strain in the world.
Mike Ryan, WHO’s top emergency expert, said: “The vaccines currently approved by the WHO provide important protection against serious illness and hospitalization for all variants, including the delta variant.”
He said: “We are fighting the same virus, but this virus has become faster and more suitable for spreading between us humans. This is change.”
Maria van Kerkhove, head of Covid-19 technology at WHO, said that the transmission rate of the Delta variant is about 50% higher than that of the ancestor strain of SARS-CoV-2, which first appeared in China at the end of 2019.
She said that some countries have reported increased hospitalization rates, but the Delta variant has not recorded a higher mortality rate.
