Covid trouble continues: UK sees 36,800 new Delta variant cases

The unending Covid distress in the United Kingdom, primarily escalated by the rapid spread of Delta variant, has been haunting the healthcare authorities as the country prepares to withdraw all the social distancing guidelines from Monday, 19 July.

As a part of step 4, all the legal restrictions will be lifted while cautious guidance will remain in place as there has been a successive increase in the cases associated with the Delta variant. The Downing Street administration has made it quite clear that the withdrawal of the social distancing mandate and the obligatory usage of masks is not a sign of returning to normal.

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According to the latest data released by the Public Health England, the Covid cases linked to the Delta variant (VOC-21APR-02) variant have increased by 36,800 cases to a total of 253,049. The Delta variant continues to dominate the Covid cases in the UK as it currently accounts for nearly 99% of the cases sequenced across the country.

The relative surge in the cases has partly decreased as the recent increase in the Delta variant cases indicates a 17% rise as against a percentage increase of 32% reported on Friday, 9 July.

With more than seven months into the vaccination programme, the country-wide immunisation of adults has considerably helped in the gradual lifting of pandemic-induced restrictions. The stepwise reopening in England so far has substantially helped the national economy in the apparent recovery process.

However, the worries surrounding the recent emergence of Covid-19 cases has raised the caution as there will be a large number of people attending social events with much larger audiences from the very next week.

While the coronavirus continues to mutate, there is an urgent need to follow extra precaution. Of the total cases detected in the past week, 45 of them are related to the Delta AY.1 sub lineage.

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Meanwhile, a separate weekly survey conducted by the PHE has shown that the Covid activity has increased at a national level in the 27th week of the present year. Amidst the fear of a third wave of Covid cases, the rate of transmission remained high between the age group of 20 and 29 years with a seven-day rate coming at 747.3 per 100,000 people.

Alarmingly, the rate of hospital admissions in the corresponding duration rose to 4.43 per 100,000 individuals from the rate of 2.76 per 100,000 people in the last week.