The UK has reported 35,204 new cases of the Delta COVID variant in the past week, a 46% increase.
Public Health England says two doses of the vaccine are still effective in protecting against the risk of hospitalization.
This brings the total number of confirmed cases to 111,157.
Last week, the Delta variant accounted for 99% of COVID cases across the UK.
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Some 42 of the latter cases are the Delta AY.1 subline.
Delta plus is considered more transmissible than the original Delta variant, according to health officials in India.
The Delta variant, first identified in India, now comprises 95% of all sequenced cases, PHE added.
He said a new strain, Lambda, has been named as a variant under investigation with six cases detected between February 23 and June 7 – five of which were linked to overseas travel.
PHE said vaccines continue to have a “crucial effect on hospital admissions and deaths,” adding that there is currently no evidence that this new variant causes more serious illness or makes the vaccines less effective.
The latest figures also showed a further 514 people were admitted to hospital in England with COVID-19[female[feminine during the week until June 21. Of these, 304 were not vaccinated.
There have now been 117 deaths in England of people confirmed to have the Delta variant – eight of whom were under 50.
Dr Jenny Harries, chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency, said that although the data suggests that “we have started to sever the link between cases and hospitalizations”, she warned of complacency.
She urged people to get vaccinated and reserve their second vaccine as soon as possible, adding: “While vaccines offer great protection, they don’t offer total protection, so …
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Source: news.sky.com
This notice was published: 2021-06-25 08:54:00
