Coronavirus: what percentage of cases Delta represents today and how it competes with the other variants

Adriana santagati

09/16/2021 12:04

• Clarín.com

• Society

Updated 09/16/2021 12:04 PM

The outbreak at the ORT school, with

five confirmed cases of Delta

, once again set off alarms about the contagiousness of this variant and its community circulation.

The new genomic surveillance report from the Ministry of Health shows, however, that, so far, Delta accounts for less than 1% of local cases, while

the predominance of Gamma continues to grow

: 60%.

On the weekend, hours before PASO and almost at the same time that the ANLIS-Malbrán conspicuously communicated the first three Delta in the ORT, the Buenos Aires Minister of Health, Nicolás Kreplak, said that there is community circulation of the original variant of the India "in the city of Buenos Aires, in Córdoba and some cases in the province of Buenos Aires as well."

The last reference to the issue of

community circulation

made by Minister Carla Vizzotti was three weeks ago: "We are close," said the minister who remarked that "to date it is not yet predominant."

Data from the latest status report of new variants SARS-CoV-2 in Argentina, broadcasting ministry based on the sequencing that made the Malbrán about 4,577 samples confirm that

so far the variant that dominates in community circulation is the Gamma

.

The one that emerged in Manaus already represents 60.39% of the samples analyzed until epidemiological week 35, which ended on September 4.

Regarding the previous report, which counts until the previous week, there was a growth of tenths of the Gamma variant (it was at 59.10%) and also of Lambda (Andina), which went from 20.35% to 20.76%, and there was a decline in Alpha (UK) from 8.11% to 7.61%.

The variant of concern (VOC) 

Delta grew from 0.68% to 0.71%.

Moderate optimism

The low numbers, although they

show a containment

of Delta for now, should not give rise to an exaggerated optimism, because the

exponential growth

that this variant has due to its greater transmissibility

is demonstrated by experience in other countries

.

The same Health report warns: “As of April 2021, an exponential increase in cases of VOC Delta is observed worldwide.

In July 2021, a global predominance of Delta VOC was observed in almost 90% of the samples sequenced globally.

As of August 31, 170 countries, areas and territories have reported cases of the Delta variant ”.

Delta's advance can be fierce, like a forest fire.

The data from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is

overwhelming

.

In that country, on June 12, the predominance of this variant was 25.5% of all cases (the dominant one was Alpha, with 41%).

Today,

Delta accounts for 99.4% of the sequencing in the US

and literally displaced all other variants and of course the original Wuhan strain.

Predominance in travelers

Returning to the figures for Argentina, Delta continues to be

the most detected among travelers

, with 46.55% of the sequences, a percentage increasing compared to the previous analysis (39.81%).

The VOCs that follow registered a slight percentage decrease, and now 21.38% of Gamma and 11.18% of Alpha were accounted for.

A novelty in the report is

the detection for the first time of the Mu variant

, discovered in Colombia and which on August 30 was classified as of interest (VOI) by the WHO.

Nine cases

were identified

in people

from Colombia, Venezuela and Mexico, representing 1.48% of the samples analyzed from travelers and cases related to importation.

In this regard, the report points out that Mu "has

a constellation of mutations

that indicate potential immune escape properties", but clarifies that "more studies are required to understand the phenotypic and clinical characteristics of this variant."

ACE

Look also

Coronavirus in Buenos Aires schools: there are fewer cases, but more bubbles isolated by "boys with snot"

Coronavirus: why Latin America manages to dodge the Delta variant for now