UK government poised to declare Delta coronavirus B.1.617 a Variant of Concern or VOC

The UK government is thought to have detected more than 40 clusters of the Indian Covid variant B.1.617 in the UK, and is on the verge of declaring it a “variant of concern”.

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Israel: Delta coronavirus variant – “The impression is that the Pfizer vaccine has efficacy against it, albeit a reduced efficacy,”

Israel has registered eight cases of a coronavirus variant first identified in India and believes that the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is at least partially effective against it, an Israeli health official said.  More...

UK: Cases of B.1.617 Delta “double mutant” coronavirus variant double in one week to 160

Professor Paul Hunter, an epidemiologist at the University of East Anglia, analysed publicly available information on new variant numbers last Saturday and again yesterday and found that the number of genetically-confirmed Indian strain cases had risen in a week from 79 to 160.  More...

UK: Delta “Double Mutant” coronavirus variant B.1.617 “could be a lot more problematic than the South African and Brazilian variants”

Prof Paul Hunter, professor in medicine at the University of East Anglia, told the Guardian that the arrival of the India variant was potentially worrying.  More...