UK: Delta variant jumps by 33,630 in a week

London: The number of Delta variant infections has jumped by 33,630 in a week to hit a total of 75,953 in the UK, with the highly transmissible variant first identified in India now making up 99 per cent of all COVID-19 cases in the country, health officials said on Friday.

Public Health England (PHE), which has been tracking variant of concerns (VOCs) on a weekly basis, said its data shows an increased risk of hospitalisation with Delta VOC compared to Alpha the VOC first detected in the Kent region of England.

It also pointed to its previous findings that two doses of a COVID vaccine gives a "high degree of protection" against hospitalisation from the Delta variant.

"PHE's weekly COVID-19 variant cases data show that numbers of the Delta variant in the UK have risen by 33,630 since last week to a total of 75,953," PHE reports.

"The most recent data show 99 per cent of sequenced and genotyped cases across the country are the Delta variant. Data show an increased risk of hospitalisation with Delta compared to Alpha, although PHE's analysis shows that two doses of vaccine gives a high degree of protection against hospitalisation, estimated to be more than 90 per cent," it said.

According to the analysis, as of June 14, a total of 806 people have been hospitalised with the Delta variant, an increase of 423 since last week.

Of these, 527 were unvaccinated, and only 84 of the 806 had received both doses.

It finds that deaths are not high, as the case fatality rate remains low for Delta.

However, it points out that deaths tend to happen some weeks after an infection and it is therefore too early to judge the case fatality of

Delta compared to Alpha or other VOCs.

"Cases are rising rapidly across the country and the Delta variant is now dominant," said Dr Jenny Harries, Chief Executive of the UK Health Security Agency.

Meanwhile, the UK's health officials on Friday opened up the country's COVID-19 vaccination programme to all adults, in what has been dubbed as the final push to offer protection against the deadly virus.

The National Health Service (NHS) said everyone aged 18 and over is being urged to arrange a jab if they have not had one as it begins sending around 1.5 million texts to people aged 18-20.

It said the latest milestone in the NHS Covid Vaccination Programme comes fewer than 200 days since the health service made history by delivering the first COVID-19 vaccine outside of a clinical trial on December 8, 2020.

Offering all adults a jab less than 200 days after the programme launched is one of our country's

greatest collective achievements, saving over 14,000 lives so far, said UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

I cannot thank NHS staff, the Army, volunteers, manufacturers and all those involved in this extraordinary national effort enough.