More and more cases of coronavirus delta variant are emerging

More and more cases of the delta variant of coronavirus are appearing in Poland, but it is still a minority variant – a few percent on the scale of individual provinces, a virologist from the Jagiellonian University in Krakow told PAP prof. Krzysztof Pyrć.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported Friday that the delta variant of coronavirus, first detected in India, is becoming dominant worldwide due to its high infectivity.

In Europe m.In. The UK has seen a large increase in the number of new infections with the variant, and in Germany, leading experts on the disease have said. public health predict that this strain will soon become dominant in the country, despite the progressive vaccination program. The new infections, largely caused just by the delta variant, have raised fears of another wave of pandemics in Russia.

Prof. In an interview with PAP, Pyrć recalled that we had the first cases of the delta variant in Poland in late April. – In May, this process accelerated. Now we see in our results and those of our colleagues that more and more cases of the delta variant are appearing. For now, it is a minority variant, a few percent on a province-by-province basis, even less nationally – indicated the expert.

At the same time, he pointed out that looking at the situation in other countries, e.g. in the UK, the percentage of this variant in our country can be expected to increase. – I caution against panic. This is very important information from the point of view of epidemiology and action planning, but from the perspective of an ordinary person, it is necessary to follow the current preventive measures, get vaccinated and remember that the epidemic is not over yet – stressed Prof. Pyræ.

A virologist acknowledged that with the increasing spread of the delta variant, the next wave of outbreaks could come sooner. – If this variant is more transmissible and this is not partially compensated for by the time of year and the progressive vaccination process, then we have to expect that it can spoil our vacations a bit. However, let's hope that if there is an increase in cases, it will be as late as possible, and the increase will not be as large as in the spring – warned the expert.

He denied that the delta variant is characterized by different symptoms than those seen so far. – The spectrum of symptoms that COVID has ranges from asymptomatic infection to fatal multi-organ disease. Since this disease spectrum is so large, talking about any differences in symptoms between variants can be misleading – assessed Professor.