The UK was able to control the Delta variant surge with these three surprising reasons unknown to the researchers and CDC.
Delta Variant: Overview
The Delta and Delta Plus variants identified in December 2020 were found to be highly contagious and likely to infect vaccinated individuals as well. Further study amidst the rise in the number of cases infected with the Delta and Delta Plus variants showed:
- The death rate of infected vaccinated individuals was low.
- Highly vaccinated communities had achieved herd immunity.
- There are high chances of this variant mutating into a stronger version and could render the vaccines useless.
- They are said to attack the lungs directly causing immediate death
- Further research was needed to find out the exact reason behind the mutation to curtail the spread.
How Did the UK Control the Delta Variant?
The SARS-COV2 virus has been surprising the world time and again, from mutating to changing patterns of transmission researchers and scientists have faced more challenges in discovering one vaccine for all strains this year.
Though it was first identified in India, the variant had quickly transmitted across the world. Statisticians identified the Delta COVID variant as a potential risk that could start a new wave all over the world.
The UK had already relaxed most of the COVID restrictions when the Delta was on the surge. British government advisor and epidemiologist, Neil Ferguson shared his data and suggested 200,000 cases per day in August if the new virus wasn’t controlled. Surprisingly, the number of cases has reduced to 27,000 per day at present due to three reasons.
3 Reasons Behind UK’s COVID Drop
“Intelligencer” Reporter David Wallace Wells from New York magazine had conducted an extensive interview with several experts regarding the sudden turnaround in the spike of COVID-19 cases in the UK. The results pointed at 3 reasons rendering the UK with reduced cases.
Reason 1
Lauren Ancel Meyers, University of Texas acknowledged that at the beginning the government was not aware of the intensity of the virus and took greater risks calmly and as the situation intensified it has now come to terms with the pandemic by taking fewer risks cautiously.
Reason 2
Adam Kucharski, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine predicted that in the beginning, the number of vaccinated individuals was low and the older generation was being infected. Currently, pocket vaccination and COVID survivors have resulted in the majority of the dense communities gaining herd immunity.
He also added that vaccination and behavioral changes weren’t exactly the reason for the drop when researched on a large scale. Kucharski and his colleagues are currently conducting studies to find out unidentified reasons.
Reason 3
Experts say the virus is surprising and there are not many ways to pinpoint a particular reason behind a spike or drop in the infection rates. Pandemic modelers are currently in a dilemma about continuing their research because out of the 28 projections models assembled by the CDC only 2 models suggested a fall in the number of cases.
These two models showed a decrease in the spread of the Delta variant with respect to increased COVID appropriate behavior in the community.
WHO is currently working on even distribution of vaccination for poorer countries to prevent the virus from mutating into a stronger variant surpassing vaccine drives.
