Delta Variant | Symptoms | Prevention | Vaccination

Delta Variant | Corona Virus | Symptoms | Prevention |  Vaccination | Therapeutic Efficacy

In December 2019, World Health Organization (WHO) was reported cases of pneumonia of unknown cause in Wuhan City, China. A novel Corona-Virus revealed as the cause by Chinese Authorities on 7 January 2020 and was initially named “2019-nCoV”.

Further on many variants came into existence since last year, Currently, the most transmissible & dangerous variant (Delta Variant) is spreading around the globe affecting many countries & causing deaths while on the other hand, The vaccination process is accelerated around to resist the covid-19 virus.

WHO Labelled Variants of COVID-19

Variants of Concern
WHO label	Variants (PANGO Lineage)	Earliest documented   samples	Date of designation
Alpha	B.1.1.7	United Kingdom,   Sep-2020	18-Dec-2020
Beta	B.1.351  B.1.351.2 B.1.351.3	South Africa,   May-2020	18-Dec-2020
Gamma	P.1  P.1.1 P.1.2	Brazil,   Nov-2020	11-Jan-2021
Delta	B.1.617.2 AY.1 AY.2	India,   Oct-2020	VOI: 4-Apr-2021  VOC: 11-May-2021
Variants of Interest
Eta	B.1.525	Multiple countries,  Dec-2020	17-Mar-2021
Iota	B.1.526	Multiple countries,  Dec-2020	17-Mar-2021
Kappa	B.1.617.1	India,   Oct-2020	4-Apr-2021
Lambda	C.37	Peru, Dec-2020	14-Jun-2021

What is the Delta Variant (B.1.617.2)??

Delta variant (B.1.617.2), is the fourth variant of concern described by the World Health Organization (WHO) because we know it has increased transmissibility & spreads rapidly between people more efficiently than the Alpha variant & the previous variants.

Now, the Delta variant has been reported in 96 countries and we expect that the Delta variant will spread continuously.

This virus also has also been able to resist the antibodies that we have in our blood. So, a higher level of antibodies to overcome this variant as compared to the Alpha variant.

A COVID symptom survey in the United Kingdom shows 19 out of 20 new cases of COVID-19 are from the delta variant.

WHO Emergency Use Listed Vaccines:   

According to WHO, Emergency Use Listed Vaccines do protect against developing severe disease, hospitalization, and death due to the Delta variant.

·      Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for emergency use on 31 December 2020.

·      Moderna vaccine on 25 January 2021 for emergency use.

·      AstraZeneca/Oxford COVID-19 vaccines on 15 February 2021, produced by AstraZeneca-SKBio (Republic of Korea) and the Serum Institute of India.

·      COVID-19 vaccine Ad26.COV2. S developed by Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) on 12 March 2021.

If you have access these vaccines as approved by WHO, take the full course so that you may have full immunity and be protected against the Delta and other variants of COVID.

Delta Variant Transmission Factors

There are a number of factors that are as follows that increased transmission around the world.

·  The first are these variants of concern, including the Delta variant.

·  The second factor is increased social mixing and increased social mobility, which increases the number of contacts that individuals have.

·  The third factor is the inappropriate use of public health (shady practices) and social measures.

·  The fourth factor is the uneven and inequitable distribution of vaccines. 

Delta Variant Symptoms

Delta variant is sometimes asymptomatic, but symptoms may appear like:

Common symptoms:

·         Dry cough

·         Tiredness

·         Fever

·         Loss of sense of smell & taste

·         Muscular & joint pain

·         Runny nose

·         Headache

·         Diarrhea

Severe symptoms:

Severe symptoms of this variant may include:

·         Shortness of breath

·         Abdominal pain

·         Other symptoms skin rash, change in color of toes, sore throat.

If any of these symptoms appear, get your vaccination done as soon as possible. See your Physician / Pharmacist & take medicines as per the advice. Hope you be safe from the attack of this delta variant.

What if you received one dose of the vaccine versus if you're fully vaccinated??

The main goal of vaccines is to prevent severe disease. Even if an individual gets the infection, it is a vaccine that helps to recover from it and not become seriously ill.

“They may range from 70 to 90%. But in terms of just looking at the prevention of severe disease and hospitalization, they're all very good, over 90% effective. But If you're vaccinated, you can get the infection, the chances are; you'll get very mild symptoms or no symptoms at all or getting seriously ill are really, really low.”                                                                             (WHO Chief Scientist)

What If we can still get infected and also infect others even after we are fully vaccinated, then why get vaccinated?

"The first is to protect an individual from getting ill. If someone catches the infection. We know that there's a certain proportion of people of all age groups who do get severely ill and there is a high probability of dying from this disease. So that's why to get vaccinated in the first place.

Secondly, if you get vaccinated, so there is a small risk you get infected and pass it on to others. As vaccines are not going to protect 100% from the infection."                                                                                                                        (WHO Chief Scientist)

Why do you want to be one person in the chain of transmission?? The importance of vaccination came into existence & people who get vaccinated have a lower probability to get infected. In other words, higher the chances of affecting; if not vaccinated. So vaccination is the way to protect yourself & break the chain of transmission among others.

Safety Measures That Protect Ourselves from Delta Variant (WHO Guidelines)

Knowledge of risk helps to take the measures to lower risk every single day. There are many things that an individual can do so that can keep himself and his family protected against this virus, including the Delta variant. This includes:

•  Clean hands 
•  Wearing a mask, making sure that the mask covers the nose and mouth.
•  Have clean hands when put on mask while take off.
•  Avoid crowded spaces, keeping distance from others, making sure indoors and rooms have good ventilation and airflow.

Taking all of these measures will reduce the possibility of exposure to the virus and reduce the possibility of getting infected.

Should We Change Our Tactics in What Situations We Find Ourselves in? Vaccinated or non-vaccinated? 

Many people around the world are not yet vaccinated, partially or received the full vaccination course. So, people remain susceptible to infection and may lead to severe disease state or death.

This is why every individual is recommended to continue to take a comprehensive approach using all of the tools that we have at our disposal to prevent ourselves from getting infected in the first place.

So that we keep ourselves safe & protected. In this respect, follow the local government guidelines issued for Covid-19 or as recommended by the WHO.

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