Delta variant of COVID-19 doubles risk of hospitalisation than Alpha, finds Lancet study
FirstpostIn the study, researchers analysed healthcare data from 43,338 cases in England between 29 March and 23 May, 2021. Only 1.8% of the cases, regardless of variant, had received both doses of the vaccine, 24% had been vaccinated once and 74% were unvaccinated Paris: The Delta variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 doubles the risk of hospitalisation compared to the Alpha variant it has supplanted as the dominant strain worldwide, researchers reported Saturday in The Lancet. Researchers analysed healthcare data from 43,338 COVID-19 cases in England from 29 March to 23 May of this year, including vaccination status, emergency care, hospital admission and other patient information. “We already know that vaccination offers excellent protection against Delta,” said Gavin Dabrera, another lead author and a consultant epidemiologist at the National Infection Service, Public Health England. The Delta variant was first reported in India in December 2020 and early studies found it to be up to 50 percent more transmissible than the Alpha variant, which was first identified in England in September last year.