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Delta Plus was the first to report to British Public Health England in its June 11 report. Several initial cases of this variety (named B.1.617.2.1 or AY.1) have been reported in the UK by people who have recently visited Nepal and Turkey. Studies have shown that this variety was detected in India in April, which is why it is believed to have originated there.
The Indian authorities also stated that there are “other variants of this strain” that have other mutations, but noted that AY.1 is the most common of them, according to TASS.
Still, the preliminary good news is that the new Delta Plus variety is not widely publicized and there is a good chance that vaccines can protect against it.
What is Delta Plus?
Delta Plus is a mutated strain called Delta (India) that was first diagnosed in India in October 2020.
The WHO considers the Indian strain to be twice as contagious as the original “Chinese” strain. Experts warn that the new Delta Plus could lead to even more deaths. The Delta strain has wreaked havoc not only in India in the past six months, where millions of people have been infected, but also in Britain or Russia.
It is true that in India and Russia, this strain has caused much more damage due to the slowness of vaccination of the population; mortality in these countries is tens of times higher than the British situation. Unlike the Indian strain, Delta Plus has a mutation in the coronavirus K417N spike protein, which allows the virus to more quickly adhere to human lung cells. K417N is also believed to help the virus avoid the antibodies that neutralize it.
A similar mutation was found in both the Beta strain in South Africa and the Brazilian Gamma strain. Some scientists fear that Delta Plus, along with other properties of Delta, could make the new strain particularly contagious and dangerous.
How fast does this variety spread?
According to the WHO, at the end of June there were only “very few” cases of Delta Plus infection in the world, only “a few dozen”. However, as of June 25, in India alone there were at least 48 people officially infected.
There was also a case of infection with this strain in the neighboring country of Lithuania. In Russia, a patient developed a mild form of coronavirus.
Reuters, CNN and other international outlets have discovered that several hundred people are officially infected with Delta Plus around the world. The new strain has already been detected in at least 11 countries. True, experts are much more concerned with the pure Delta (India) variety, which has become dominant in Britain and Russia.
Do vaccines work with new strains?
Researchers show that the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine was 94% effective. cases (hospitalization prevented with coronavirus infection) after a single dose and 96% effective after two. AstraZeneca was 71 percent efficient. after the first vaccination and 92 percent. cases after the second.
Vaccines substantially reduce the chances of a person being hospitalized or even dying from a coronavirus, of all currently known strains. This is evidenced in practice in Great Britain, where mortality is even several tens of times lower with even higher morbidity than in Russia (per million people). The possible explanation for this is quite simple: in the UK, 51% were vaccinated. people (most of them over 50 years old) and only 13% in Russia.
It is true that researchers are concerned about the Delta Plus strain, not only because it may be more contagious than previous ones, but also because it may have greater resistance to vaccines. If the worst turns out, a new pandemic will not really be prevented.
However, there is still not much basis for that. “Potential resistance” to vaccines was discussed before the spread of many coronavirus strains, but so far the fruits of researchers’ work have shown their potency against the virus. This is also confirmed by an Indian doctor from a hospital in New Delhi. Chandrakant Lahariya CNBC said local experts still see no reason to be concerned about the new strain. So far, according to him, all that is clear is that Delta Plus is still the same Delta strain, but with an additional mutation.
According to him, the only clinical difference of this strain known to doctors is that Delta Plus has some resistance to combination therapy with monoclonal antibodies. However, this is not a critical difference, as the therapy itself is still experimental and is administered to only a very small number of patients.
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