The World Health Organization has warned that the delta strain of the emerging corona virus "Covid-19", which was discovered in India;
On its way to becoming the world's dominant dynasty, why is that?
And what are the risks?
And what do we know so far about this strain?
What are the latest symptoms?
And where did the scientists arrive in developing a treatment for Corona disease?
The answers and more are in this comprehensive report.
We'll start with the latest symptoms of the "Delta Δ δ" strain of corona, then move on to the other details.
The delta variant appears to provoke a different set of symptoms, according to a report published by the American network "CNBC".
And Tim Spector, a professor of genetic epidemiology at King's College London, said that Covid-19 is also behaving differently now.
Spector is running the Zoe Covid Symptom study, an ongoing study in the UK that enables the public to enter their COVID-19 symptoms into an app where scientists can analyze the data.
During the epidemic, the main symptoms of COVID-19 were observed to be fever, persistent cough, and loss of taste or smell, with some variations.
However, the delta variant - which was first identified in India - may produce a different set of symptoms, according to The Becker's Hospital Review.
Spector says that since the beginning of last May, we have been looking at the most important symptoms of users of the application, and they are not what they were before.
Spector said - in a YouTube video that the symptoms that were observed are:
headache
Sore throat
Runny nose
fever
The "traditional" symptoms of Covid-19 - such as coughing and loss of smell - are now less common, with young people suffering more from a bad cold.
Other symptoms were also recorded, including:
Symptoms that do not usually appear in Covid-19 patients, such as hearing loss and gangrene, have been reported, according to Bloomberg.
Dr. Abdul Ghafoor, an infectious disease doctor in Chennai, India, said he is seeing more COVID-19 patients with diarrhea than the first wave of the epidemic.
He noted that more research is needed to analyze whether newer symptoms are related to the delta variant.
dominant dynasty
Soumya Swaminathan, chief scientist at the World Health Organization, said that the delta strain of Covid-19 - which was first identified in India - has become the globally dominant strain of the disease, according to Reuters.
"The Delta variant is on its way to becoming the dominant strain globally due to its increased transmissibility," Swaminathan said at a press conference.
In turn, Mike Ryan, head of the emergency program at the World Health Organization, said: "The harsh reality is that in an era of multiple variables, with increased transmissibility, we have left large segments of the population, and vulnerable populations in Africa, unprotected by vaccines."
Scientists cautioned that the data indicate that the delta variant is about 60% more transmissible than the 'alpha' variant (previously known as the UK or Kent variant which was itself more transmissible than the original version of the virus) and is more likely to lead to infection. hospital, according to a report in "CNBC".
In Russia, the mayor of Moscow explained - yesterday, Friday - that the Russian capital is facing a record wave of the Covid-19 epidemic caused by the outbreak of the mutated delta version of the Corona virus, announcing some restrictions, but he was careful not to impose strict closure measures.
Mayor Sergei Sobyanin confirmed that "89.3% of patients are infected with the Indian variant called "delta" of the Corona virus, which is more virulent and spreads more quickly."
"For this reason, we are witnessing a sharp increase in the number of cases of the disease, as well as in the number of cases that require hospitalization," he added.
What is the reason for the spread in Moscow?
Yesterday, Friday, the Kremlin said that the negativity of citizens, low vaccination rates and new strains of the Corona virus are the reasons for a new increase in cases of Covid-19 disease, as the capital, Moscow, recorded a record number of infections.
Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for President Vladimir Putin, stated that it was clear that the vaccination campaign had not been as effective as hoped, and added that Putin was closely monitoring the situation.
"The negativity and the low level of vaccination (they were behind the increase)," Peskov said - in a press briefing.
Russia announced the registration of 17,262 new cases of Covid-19 yesterday, Friday, of which 9,56 were in Moscow, which raised the official toll since the beginning of the pandemic to 5,281,309 injuries.
Since last December, only 19.4 million Russians - out of 146 million - have received at least a first dose, according to the "GoGov" website, which draws its information from regions and the media due to the lack of official national statistics, according to the French press agency.
What do we know about the Delta breed?
Laboratory studies have shown that vaccines may be less effective against the mutated Delta strain, which is known as the Indian strain;
Nevertheless, it plays a positive role on the ground, as it protects against the development of serious symptoms in the patient, but on the condition that two doses of the vaccine be obtained.
The French newspaper "Nouvelle Observateur" (L'Obs) says that the Delta strain - which was first identified in India in October 2020 - raises serious concerns about the ability of currently available vaccines to protect against it.
In fact, many research and scientific studies have shown that this strain is more resistant to vaccines, compared to other strains.
One of these studies was conducted in Britain and published this June in the medical journal "The Lancet".
And its conclusion is that the people who received two doses of the “Pfizer-BioNTech” vaccine had a lower level of antibodies produced by their body to resist the Indian strain than the antibodies produced by the body against the first strain of the virus, which was used to develop the vaccine.
The newspaper points out that these research results, despite their importance, do not deny the presence of antibodies in the patient, and therefore, despite everything, we can talk about the effectiveness of the vaccine.
In fact, there is another type of immune response, which is called cellular immunity (related to lymphocytes).
The newspaper adds that the results confirm that vaccination using “Pfizer-Biontech” and “AstraZeneca” remains effective in preventing advanced cases of the disease that lead to hospitalization, when infected with the Indian mutant Delta, as effective against the alpha mutant, as two doses of Of the vaccine, they were able to avoid the risk by 96% and 92%, respectively, according to this study.
Besides these findings, scientific studies suggest that getting a single dose of the vaccine provides limited protection against the Indian Delta strain;
As stated in the study published in The Lancet, “After receiving a single dose of Pfizer-Biontech, 79% of people found that they had a response to antibodies against the original strain of the virus, but this percentage decreased to 50% in the face of the alpha strain, and 32% in the face of the strain.” delta, and 25% in front of the beta strain.
The French Pasteur Institute also conducted a study that found that a single dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine is little or ineffective against the Indian mutant.
America expects a large spread of the Delta strain
And Rochelle Walinsky - director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) - expected that the Delta strain would become the prevalent in her country and the most widespread and cause of all cases of corona in the United States.
This came in statements made by Walinsky - yesterday, Friday - during an interview she gave to the American channel "ABC".
"I am concerned about the infectious nature of the new delta strain, or what is known as the Indian mutant, which first appeared in India and quickly moved to Britain and became the dominant strain there," she added.
In this context, Walinsky encouraged Americans to receive vaccines against Corona, pointing out that these vaccines will also provide protection against the new Indian mutant.
She pointed out that what is rumored that corona vaccines cause heart infection for those under 30 years old, is inaccurate and misleading information.
Developing a treatment for Corona
We remain in the United States, where the Department of Health and Human Services announced - on Thursday - a new program that will accelerate clinical trials of a few promising candidate drugs for Corona disease, and the value of the program is $ 3.2 billion, according to a report in the New York Times. ).
If all goes well, some of these first pills may be ready by the end of the year.
The Anti-Pandemic Antiviral Program will also support research on new drugs not only for the coronavirus, but for viruses that could cause epidemics in the future.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and lead supporter of the program, said he is looking forward to the time when Covid-19 patients can get antiviral tablets from the pharmacy once they test positive.
"I wake up in the morning, I don't feel very well, my sense of smell and taste are gone, and I get a sore throat. I call my doctor and say I have COVID-19 and I need a prescription," Dr. Fauci said in an interview.
"The hope is that we can have an antiviral by the end of the fall that can help us end this chapter of the epidemic," Dr. David Kessler, chief scientific officer of the Biden administration's "Covid-19 Response Team", said in an interview.
One drug the government is considering is AT-527, developed by Atea Pharmaceuticals.
The compound has already proven to be safe and effective as a treatment for hepatitis C, and early studies suggest that it may also work against COVID-19.
Another drug on the government's radar, created by scientists at Pfizer, was adapted from a molecule initially designed in the early 21st century as a potential drug for severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
This drug has been on the shelf for years, but last spring scientists decided to modify its structure so that it works against the Corona virus.
The drug was designed to be taken intravenously, but researchers at Pfizer have succeeded in changing its structure to work as a pill. And when the mice were given the drug orally, it reached levels high enough in the body to prevent the coronavirus. Pfizer launched a clinical trial last March to study its safety in humans, and it expects to move to a later stage of testing next July.