Delta strain dominates & hits youths

THE Delta variant now accounts for almost all new UK Covid-19 cases and is spreading most in younger age groups.

Public Health England (PHE) said 33,360 cases of the variant first identified in India have been detected in the last week, taking the total to 75,953.

It said the variant accounts for 99 per cent of sequenced and genotyped Covid cases, up from 90 per cent the previous week. Data suggest those infected with it are more likely to end up in hospital compared with those with the Alpha (Kent) variant.

However, PHE analysis showed that after two doses, the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is 96 per cent effective and the AstraZeneca/Oxford 92 per cent effective.

Dr Jenny Harries, Chief Executive of the UK Health Security Agency, said: “Cases are rising rapidly across the country.

“The increase is primarily in younger age groups, a large proportion of which were unvaccinated but are now being invited to receive the vaccine. It is encouraging to see hospitalisations and deaths are not rising at the same rate.

“The vaccination programme and the care that we are all taking to follow the guidance are continuing to save lives.”

Increase

PHE said that as of June 14, 806 people with the Delta variant had been admitted to hospitals in England between February 1 and June 16.

Of those, 527 were totally unvaccinated and only 84 had had both vaccine doses.

There were 73 deaths of people infected with the Delta variant. Some 34 were unvaccinated, 10 had had a first dose at least 21 days earlier, while 26 had a second dose at least two weeks earlier.

A further 10,476 Covid-19 cases were confirmed in the daily figures yesterday, up 29 per cent compared with the previous Friday.

There were 11 deaths reported, down from 17 a week earlier.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) infection poll showed the number of people thought to have Covid had risen in England by eight per cent to 105,000 during the week to June 12.

Around one in 520 people in the community was infected in the most recent round, the ONS estimated, while prevalence was lower in Wales at one in 1,500, Scotland at one in 600, and Northern Ireland at one in 610.

Separate ONS data showed Covid-19 was the 24th leading cause of death in May in England, accounting for 0.9 per cent of all those registered.