Delta has all but elbowed out the three other Covid-19 variants of concern, Maria Van Kerkhove, the World Health Organization's (WHO) technical lead on Covid-19 told reporters on Wednesday.
"Less than one percent each of Alpha, Beta, and Gamma are currently circulating. It's really predominantly delta around the world," the health body official said on Wednesday.
Delta has become more fit, it is more transmissible and it is out-competing, it is replacing the other viruses that are circulating, she told a WHO social media live interaction, adding that Delta had been detected in more than 185 countries to date. his variant drove the second wave in India and was behind the surge of coronavirus cases in the US.
The delta variant, also known as B.1.617.2, was first detected in India in late 2020.
In late 2020, the emergence of variants that posed an increased risk to global public health prompted the WHO to start characterizing them as variants of interest, and the more-worrying variants of concern, to inform the response to the pandemic. Besides the four variants of concern, there are also five variants of interest, but Van Kerkhove said three of them -- Eta, Iota, and Kappa -- were now being downgraded to variants under monitoring.
"Less than one percent each of Alpha, Beta, and Gamma are currently circulating. It's really predominantly delta around the world," the health body official said on Wednesday.
Delta has become more fit, it is more transmissible and it is out-competing, it is replacing the other viruses that are circulating, she told a WHO social media live interaction, adding that Delta had been detected in more than 185 countries to date. his variant drove the second wave in India and was behind the surge of coronavirus cases in the US.
The delta variant, also known as B.1.617.2, was first detected in India in late 2020.
In late 2020, the emergence of variants that posed an increased risk to global public health prompted the WHO to start characterizing them as variants of interest, and the more-worrying variants of concern, to inform the response to the pandemic. Besides the four variants of concern, there are also five variants of interest, but Van Kerkhove said three of them -- Eta, Iota, and Kappa -- were now being downgraded to variants under monitoring.
