The highly transmissible Delta variant of the coronavirus is expected to become a “dominant lineage” if current trends continue, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned, after it was reported in 85 countries and continues to be detected in more places around the world.
A weekly update released on June 22 by the WHO said that globally, the variant Alpha has been reported in 170 countries, territories or areas, Beta in 119 countries, Gamma in 71 countries, and Delta in 85 countries.
“Delta, now reported in 85 countries, continues to be reported in new countries across all WHO regions, 11 of which were newly reported in the past two weeks,” the update said.
The WHO said the four current “variants of concern” being monitored closely – Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta – are widespread and have been detected in all WHO regions. “The Delta variant is significantly more transmissible than the Alpha variant, and is expected to become a dominant lineage if current trends continue.”
Danish health officials have urged football fans who attended the European Championship game between Denmark and Belgium at Parken Stadium on June 17 to be checked for the coronavirus after they found at least three people who later tested positive for the Delta variant.
Brazil set a record for daily Covid-19 infections on Wednesday, with 115,228 new cases identified within 24 hours, the health ministry said. During the same period, 2,392 new deaths were recorded, taking the total to 507,109. Brazil is the second worst-hit in the world in terms of fatalities, behind the US.
Method found to detect Covid from phone swabs
Experts said they have developed a non-invasive method that can rapidly detect Covid-19 using samples taken from the screens of smartphones. Researchers from University College London in the UK analysed swabs from mobile screens rather than directly from people.
The method, described in the journal eLife, detected the virus on the phones of 81-100% of contagious people with a high viral load. A machine is under development by Diagnosis Biotech, a Chilean start-up.
Trump hoped Bolton got Covid: Guardian report
The Guardian website has reported that an upcoming book claims that former US president Donald Trump had hoped that the coronavirus would some day “take out” John Bolton, his former national security adviser with whom he didn’t get along well.
The book called Nightmare Scenario is written by The Washington Post’s Yasmeen Abutaleb and Damian Paletta, and it will give readers a vivid picture of the former American president’s handling of Covid-19 and other issues during his presidency, the news report says.
