Geneva: Noting that the Delta variant of COVID-19 is present in nearly 100 countries as per conservative estimates, the World Health Organization (WHO) today warned that the highly transmissible strain will become the dominant variant of the coronavirus globally in the coming months.
In its COVID-19 Weekly Epidemiological Update, the WHO said as of June 29, 2021, “96 countries have reported cases of the Delta variant, though this is likely an underestimate as sequencing capacities needed to identify variants are limited. A number of these countries are attributing surges in infections and hospitalisations to this variant.”
Given the increase in transmissibility, the WHO warned that the Delta variant is “expected to rapidly outcompete other variants and become the dominant variant over the coming months.”
The world body also asserted that tools needed to combat current variants of concern (VOCs), including the Delta variant, will remain the same. “Individual, community level-public health and social measures, infection prevention, and control measures that have been used since the beginning of the pandemic remain effective against current variants of concern (VOCs), including the Delta variant,” it added.
Last week, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the Delta variant is the “most transmissible” of the variants identified so far and is spreading rapidly among unvaccinated populations.
