Seoul:
People infected with the more transmissible Delta variant have a viral load 300 occasions greater than these with the original version of the COVID-19 virus when symptoms are 1st observed, a South Korea study identified.
But the quantity progressively decreased more than time – to 30 occasions in 4 days and more than 10 occasions in nine days – and it matched levels seen in other variants soon after 10 days, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) stated on Tuesday.
The greater load implies the virus spreads far more effortlessly from particular person to particular person, rising infections and hospitalisations, a overall health ministry official Lee Sang-won told a news conference.
“But it doesn’t mean Delta is 300 times more infectious…we think its transmission rate is 1.6 times the Alpha variant, and about two times the original version of the virus,” Lee stated.
The Delta variant of the novel coronavirus was 1st identified in India and the Alpha variant in the UK.
To stay clear of the spread of the Delta variant, now the dominant strain worldwide, the KDCA urged folks to straight away get tested when building COVID-19 symptoms and stay clear of in-particular person meetings.
The speedy spread of the Delta variant and low vaccination prices have caught significantly of Asia off-guard, particularly in emerging markets, even as economies in Europe and North America reopen.
The study compared the viral load of 1,848 patients infected with the Delta variant with 22,106 folks who had other strains.
South Korea reported 1,509 new coronavirus situations for Monday, raising the total to 239,287 infections, with 2,228 deaths.
It has vaccinated 51.2% of its 52 million population with at least one dose of a vaccine, even though 23.9% have been completely vaccinated.
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