By Erika Edwards - NBC News
The highly communicable
delta variant of the coronavirus is now the dominant one
in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported Tuesday.
As of July 3 - the most recent data available date - the delta variant represented 51.7% of new COVID-19 cases that had been verified by genetic sequencing in the country.
Two weeks earlier, on June 19, the variant accounted for just over 30% of new cases.
[What you need to know about the delta variant, the "biggest threat" to eliminate the coronavirus in the US]
President Joe Biden cited Tuesday during a press conference the rapid spread of the delta variant in the country and urged the population to get vaccinated, "especially young people who may have thought they didn't have to get vaccinated, who didn't have to worry about it, they didn't have to do something about it. "
File photo of a Philadelphia Fire Department paramedic preparing a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine from Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceuticals.
"This should be cause for everyone to think twice," added Biden.
Studies have shown that COVID-19 vaccines are effective against multiple variants, including delta.
A recent report from
Public Health England
, where the variant accounts for more than 90% of new cases, found that two doses of the Pfizer vaccine are 96% effective against one hospitalization.
In addition to the United States,
delta has been detected in 103 countries
and is expected to become the dominant variant globally.
[COVID-19 cases increase in areas with low vaccination rates due to the delta variant]
"Based on the estimated transmission comparative advantage of the delta variant, it is expected to rapidly outperform other variants and become the dominant lineage that will circulate in the coming months," the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.
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Worldwide,
the number of new COVID-19 cases has increased slightly
in the past two weeks, after a seven-week reduction, according to the WHO.
However, coronavirus-related deaths continued to decline,
reaching the lowest point since October 2020
.