“The delta variant is like a cold”. Once again, the Italian virologists have shown that they understand little or nothing about the Covid virus and the confirmation comes from a British study that analyzed more than 40 thousand cases confirmed by sequencing in England between 29 March and 23 May 2021: the Delta variant of Sars-CoV-2 doubles the risk of hospitalization for Covid-19 compared to the Alpha variant. Furthermore, the likelihood of needing emergency visits or hospitalization was also 1.5 times greater for people infected with Delta than for those with Alpha. The results of the work suggest that epidemics sustained by this variant, now prevalent in Europe, “may lead to a greater burden on health services” than those caused by the Alpha mutant now ousted from its dominant position, “particularly in unvaccinated people. and in other vulnerable populations ”, is the alarm raised by the authors of the study.
The researchers especially caution about the increased risk of hospitalization among unvaccinated or partially vaccinated people, as these made up the majority of cases examined in the study. The Delta variant was first reported in India in December 2020, and early studies had quickly found that it is up to 50% more transmissible than the Alpha variant, first identified in Kent, UK. Now this work confirms a risk of hospitalization roughly double for those infected with Delta compared to those infected with Alfa. The risk of going to the hospital for emergency care or being hospitalized within 14 days of infection is also one and a half times greater than with the Alpha variant (1.45 times).
“Most of the cases included in the analysis were unvaccinated – explains Gavi Dabrera, of the National Infection Service, Public Health England (Phe), one of the lead authors of the study – We already know that vaccination offers excellent protection against Delta and as this variant accounts for over 98% of Covid cases in the UK, it is imperative that those who have not received two doses of the vaccine do so as soon as possible. In any case, it is important in case of symptoms to stay at home and take a tampon as soon as possible ”. “Our analysis shows that, in the absence of vaccination, any Delta epidemic will place a greater burden on health care than an Alpha epidemic,” concludes Anne Presanis, senior statistician at Cambridge University and one of the study’s lead authors. , which was led by researchers from Public Health England and the University of Cambridge and funded by UK Research and Innovation, Medical Research Council, the UK Government’s Department of Health and Social Care and National Institute for Health Research.
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