The Delta variant (also known as B.1.617.2) was first discovered in India and being the most transmissible, it is increasingly becoming the most dangerous, if not deadliest SARS-CoV-2 variant.

With the surge in cases driven by this variant, there is an economic divide being created by the uneven vaccine rates around the world.

While the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out is proving successful in preventing deaths from this variant in many countries, poorer countries, who are lagging behind in vaccinations, are feeling the effects of the delta variant.

Even with their successful roll-out of vaccines, Britain has been forced to prolong their hard lockdown, as Boris Johnson extended the reopening of society now to take place on the 19^th July 2021 instead of the previously anticipated date of the 21^st of June 2021.

Hope has been created by a firm in New York, Regeneron, armed with a new weapon to fight the pandemic. Regn-Cov2 is an antibody therapy and is said to improve survival rates and shorten hospitalisations of patients with severe COVID-19 infections, even in the late stages of the disease. It is effective against the delta variant but is unfortunately an expensive therapy and is presently in short supply.

Sources:

The Economist, 19^th June 2021

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