THE variant delta may well spawn a fourth wave as it spreads this summer, scientists warn. Especially since this form of coronavirus, detected in India, already has an even more transmissible variant: the delta plus variant, unveiled by the Indian Ministry of Health on June 22.
The more we advance in the Covid-19 crisis, the more complex the virus becomes. This is at least what worries the Indian government, which has ordered the six regions of the country in which it has already been detected to take drastic measures to limit its spread. These are Ratnagiri and Jalgaon of Maharashtra, Palakkad and Pathanamthitta of Kerala and Bhopal and Shivpuri of Madhya Pradesh.
But other cases have been identified around the worldin Canada, in Japan, in Switzerland, in Turkey, in the United States, in Portugal, in Poland or in Nepal, for the moment in small numbers (maximum 83), according to the English health agency.
More resistant and more transmissible
This new version would be even more transmissible than the variant from which it originated, would have a better ability to attach to lung cells and would be more resistant to monoclonal antibodies used to fight the virus, explains the press release. Its official name, given by the English health agency is Delta-AY.1or more commonly “delta plus”.
The mutation that gave rise to it is called K417N, explains Liberation. It has already been identified in another variant, the one discovered in South Africa. However, vaccines are not as effective against this variant, as some people already infected before have caught the beta variant, suggesting that the antibodies were not enough to protect against it. But there is currently no evidence that this mutation has the same effect with the delta variant.
Read also:
- English, Brazilian, South African, Indian Covid variant…: figures, symptoms
- Why has the WHO decided to rename the variants of the coronavirus?
- Anosmia: one year after Covid-19, 96% of patients have regained their sense of smell
- What is reactive vaccination, the strategy recommended by HAS to limit variants?
