COVID-19: Delta variant 40% more transmissible, says UK's Health Secretary

Delta variant (B1.617.2) of the novel coronavirus that first originated in India, is about 40 per cent more transmissible than the Alpha or the Kent variant of concern and is now the dominant variant in the UK,  health secretary Matt Hancock said Sunday. This would make the June 21 roadmap of unlocking Britain more challenging, he added. In a televised address with  Sky News, Hancock stressed, “That means that it is more difficult, obviously, to manage this virus with the with the new Delta variant.”

The recent spike of novel coronavirus cases across the UK is being attributed to the more transmissible variant that had stretched the healthcare systems and wreaked havoc in India with the daily onslaught of patients gasping for oxygen. UK is now witnessing a  catastrophic rise of the deadly B1.617.2 spread ahead of relaxing COVID measures this month. 

A recent study had also proved that one dose of the mRNA vaccine Pfizer-BioNTech and the Oxford manufactured adenovirus vector jab AstraZeneca were both less effective against the Delta variant as compared to the Alpha variant that first originated in the UK. UK’s Health Secretary Matt Hancock had also announced the nationwide Cov-Boost study trial of seven vaccines to provide data on the impact of a third dose on the B1.617.2 variant first discovered in India. 

“Strong evidence shows the vaccines protect you and your loved ones from serious illness and they also reduce transmission, which is why we’ve introduced additional surge measures in the areas with rising cases of the variant first identified in India,” said Hancock. 

Vaccines 'turning the tide'

UK’s health secretary said during a briefing from 10 Downing Street in London that the vaccines are “turning the tide against this pandemic and I’m incredibly proud the UK has one of the highest uptake rates in the world, with 90 percent of people saying that they have had or will have the jab.” 

UK government also outlined new decisive actions to halt the spread of the B1.617.2 variant boosting the vaccine roll-out drive across  Bedford, Burnley, Hounslow, Kirklees, Leicester, and North Tyneside where variant cases were detected to protect the most vulnerable. Additional testing and contact-tracing measures were deployed to “break the deadly transmission chain.” On Sunday Hancock said that people that were administered with two doses of vaccine should be protected against either variant.

“That figure, around 40 percent more transmissible, is indeed the latest advice I have," Matt hancock said in a live-streamed statement.

UK's 40 percent figure came had come from the government’s body of scientific advisors known as SAGE. UK health secretary acknowledged that the new variant does make the calculation more difficult for June 21 as he said, that the administration will look at the data for another week and then make a judgment LIVE on BBC, adding that the government was open to delaying the reopening.