COVID’s Delta variant becoming globally dominant: WHO

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The Delta variant of COVID-19 is becoming the most prevalent variant of the disease globally
It was initially identified in India
Despite growing vaccination rates, the Delta variant has seen a sharp increase in the UK

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Updated: June 18 2021 06:00:55 AM ET Geneva, Switzerland

The Delta variant of COVID-19, which was initially identified in India, is becoming the most prevalent variant of the disease globally, according to the World Health Organization’s chief scientist.

“The Delta variant is well on its way to becoming the dominant variant globally because of its increased transmissibility,” WHO’s Soumya Swaminathan said during a press conference, as quoted by the news agency Reuters.

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Despite growing vaccination rates, the Delta variant has seen a sharp increase in infections in the United Kingdom, and one of Germany’s top public health experts anticipated it would quickly become the dominant variant in their country.

After record new infections in Moscow were registered, primarily with the new Delta strain, stoking worries of a third wave materialising in the country, the Kremlin claimed the rise in COVID-19 cases was due to a lack of vaccines and “nihilism”, Reuters reported.

Swaminathan, in the press conference, also voiced her dismay in CureVac’s vaccine candidate failing to match the WHO’s vaccine effectiveness threshold in a study, especially given the increased need for new, effective vaccines due to highly transmissible variants.

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CureVac blamed variants of the coronavirus when it said this week that their vaccine was only 47% successful in preventing the infection, falling short of the WHO’s 50% target.

Within its study population, the organization discovered at least 13 variants, according to the company.

Given the success rates of other mRNA vaccines from Pfizer, BioNTech, and Moderna, Swaminathan believes the world was expecting more from CureVac’s candidate.

“Just because it’s another mRNA vaccine, we cannot presume all mRNA vaccines are the same, because each one has a slightly different technology,” Swaminathan said, adding that the unexpected failure highlighted the importance of thorough clinical studies when testing novel products.