Delta variant: How transmissible is the COVID variant spreading in the UK and elsewhere?

Delta variant: How transmissible is the COVID variant spreading in the UK and elsewhere?

6/15/21 8:00PM

Despite a strong vaccination programme, the UK has had to put plans for a full re-opening of its economy on hold, as the Delta variant of COVID — first identified in India — has quickly become the dominant variant in the country.

Data from Public Health England reveals how the rise in Delta cases in England has far outstripped any previous variant that has been identified — suggesting it is substantially more transmissible. Estimates currently peg the R0 (reproduction number) for the Delta variant between 5 and 8, compared to an R0 of about 3 for the variant that caused Europe's first wave.

That may sound concerning, but the latest data also suggests that vaccinations are still highly effective at preventing hospitalizations for those who catch the Delta variant. 2 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine were found to be 96% effective against hospitalizations for Delta, and 2 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine were found to be 92% effective.

In the US, Delta cases remain more sparse, but are reportedly doubling roughly every 2 weeks. Acknowledging the potential threat from Delta, the CDC labelled the Delta strain a "variant of concern" this week.

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The most watched soccer match in US history got less than a third of the views the Super Bowl did

Between a top-spot finish in the group stage, a sweeping performance against Bosnia and Herzegovina in the round of 32, and the president’s controversial intervention, Monday evening’s USMNT game against Belgium had, to put it lightly, shaped up into a box-office clash.

And though the US players’ performance on the pitch might not have lived up to the high drama off it, American soccer fans certainly showed up. According to early estimates, the 4-1 defeat against Belgium was the most watched soccer telecast in US history, hauling some 40 million viewers on average across the coverage on Fox and Telemundo.

That may be a record tally in the US for the sport that much of the world calls some variant of “football” — besting the 36.2 million who tuned in to watch the team’s previous knock-out match — but it’s still peanuts in comparison to the sport that shares the same name in the States.

World cup viewers chart — Sherwood News

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