India reports 22 cases of more transmissible Delta Plus COVID-19 variant
전체 맥락을 이해하기 위해서는 본문 보기를 권장합니다.
Initially, the Indian government defined Delta Plus as a "variant of interest," but a few hours later, it raised its risk assessment to a "variant of concern."
The Hindustan Times quoted health officials as saying that the Delta Plus variant had "increased transmissibility" and "stronger binding to receptors of lung cells."
이 글자크기로 변경됩니다.
(예시) 가장 빠른 뉴스가 있고 다양한 정보, 쌍방향 소통이 숨쉬는 다음뉴스를 만나보세요. 다음뉴스는 국내외 주요이슈와 실시간 속보, 문화생활 및 다양한 분야의 뉴스를 입체적으로 전달하고 있습니다.
India has reported cases of infection with Delta Plus, a subvariant resulting from a mutation to the Delta variant of the coronavirus. As the highly infectious Delta virus spreads around the world, the appearance of a new mutation is prompting concerns.
India’s Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said in a press briefing on Wednesday that 22 cases of a new version of the Delta variant of the COVID-19 virus had been detected in Maharashtra and two other states and that those cases were being closely followed and monitored, German news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported.
India has suffered heavily during the COVID-19 pandemic. It has close to 30 million confirmed cases of the disease, the second highest in the world, and has reported more than 389,000 deaths. Under those circumstances, the detection of a new viral variant is of huge interest.
Initially, the Indian government defined Delta Plus as a “variant of interest,” but a few hours later, it raised its risk assessment to a “variant of concern.”
Delta Plus adds another mutation to the Delta variant, which was already over 60% more contagious than the original coronavirus.
The Hindustan Times quoted health officials as saying that the Delta Plus variant had “increased transmissibility” and “stronger binding to receptors of lung cells.”
Reports say that an assessment of Delta Plus’s exact transmissibility and deadliness is currently underway. Bhushan, the health secretary, said that researchers are carefully examining correlations in clinical data about Delta Plus and that the results will be shared when they become available.
The Hindustan Times reported that Delta Plus has been found in nine countries, including the US, the UK, Portugal, Switzerland, Japan, Poland, Nepal, China, and Russia.
The South Korean disease control authorities are also keeping a close eye on Delta Plus.
“We assess the public health impact [of virus variants] in three areas: whether they have become more infectious than the original virus, whether they have increased the severity [of cases], and whether they’ve reduced vaccine efficacy through immune evasion,” said Park Young-joon, head of epidemiological research at Korea’s Central Disease Control Headquarters.
Park had been asked to assess the risk of Delta Plus relative to the original Delta variant during the daily press briefing on Wednesday.
“Currently, a virus with certain changes has apparently been identified. Our position is that we should closely monitor its impact, given the impact of the original Delta variant. More monitoring will be necessary before we can provide a more detailed risk assessment,” Park said.
By Park Byong-su, senior staff writer
Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
Copyright © 한겨레신문사 All Rights Reserved. 무단 전재, 재배포, AI 학습 및 활용 금지
- 덩치 수십배 독사마저 잡아먹는 거미…‘뱀의 굴욕’ 흔하다
- 이낙연, 이재명 ‘텃밭’ 성남시 찾아 은수미 만난 까닭
- 낮고도 ‘아주’ 높은 김여정
- 돌아온 홍준표 “지지율 1위 윤석열, 내년 3월까지 간다고 보나”
- ‘윤석열 파일’ 출처 놓고 공방전…여 “야당 자폭” 야 “친여 매체 제작”
- 배달앱·알뜰폰·중고차…은행이 ‘투잡’ 뛰는 까닭은
- 수사심의위 방패 삼은 군, 성추행 사건에 ‘제식구 감싸기’
- 미 FDA “화이자·모더나 백신, 드물게 젊은층에 심근염” 경고
- [ESC] ‘그 자체로 완벽한’ 숲이 우리를 부르네
- [ESC] 허클베리 핀 손 흔드는, 나무 위 집에 올라볼까