WHO: Delta COVID Variant Potentially More Lethal

The World Health Organization (WHO) warned the public against the Delta COVID variant, saying the virus strain is potentially more lethal to vulnerable people.

WHO officials issued the warning on Monday, June 21, addressing it to world leaders and public health officials, CNBC reported.

WHO warned that the Delta variant is highly contagious and is the "fastest and fittest" SARS-CoV-2 strain that would affect vulnerable people, especially in places with low COVID-19 vaccination rates.

Last month, the organization declared the Delta a "variant of concern" since it has been seen to be more contagious, more deadly, or more resistant to present vaccines and treatments.

Executive director of the WHO's health emergencies program, Dr. Mike Ryan, confirmed that Delta is more "lethal because it's more efficient in the way it transmits between humans."

Ryan further noted that it would eventually find those vulnerable individuals who will become severely ill to be admitted to hospitals and "potentially die."

On Friday, June 18, WHO said the Delta COVID variant is becoming the dominant variant of SARS-CoV-2 worldwide.

WHO: COVID Vaccines Offer Protection Against Delta Variant

Studies suggested that the Delta COVID variant, first identified in India, is more transmissible than the Alpha variant. Alpha COVID variant was known to be more contagious than the original strain of SARS-CoV-2 that emerged from Wuhan, China.

WHO cited reports stating that the Delta variant also causes "more severe symptoms." However, the organization underscored that more research is needed to confirm the said reports.

Ryan said a way to protect those vulnerable from the Delta strain is through vaccinations.

"We can protect those vulnerable people, ththose frontline workers," said Ryan, adding that people who were left unvaccinated remain at even further risk.

The WHO official further noted that a lack of protection to those in the front line is a "catastrophic moral failure at a global level."

Meanwhile, Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, seconded Ryan's claims, urging the people to get vaccinated.

Delta COVID Variant in the U.S. and Worldwide

Bloomberg reported about genomic data from Helix that revealed that the Delta COVID variant is growing faster in U.S. counties with lower vaccination rates.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) noted that the said variant makes up 10 percent of all new cases in the United States.

Former Food and Drug Association (FDA) Commissioner Scott Gottlieb earlier said that the Delta variant is likely to become the dominant COVID strain in the U.S. CDC echoed what the former commissioner said.

In the U.K., Delta became the dominant virus strain, accounted for at least 60 percent of the new COVID cases in the country. According to Bloomberg, the Delta variant was growing "more than twice as fast" as the Gamma variant, the strain that was first seen in Brazil.

To date, WHO's technical lead for COVID, Maria Van Kerkhove, said the Delta COVID variant had struck at least 92 countries.

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