UK: Delta coronavirus variant could push R to 7 without mitigations says PHE chief

Dr Susan Hopkins, Public Health England’s strategic COVID-19 response director, told the Science and Technology Committee of the UK Parliament today that if the Delta variant B16712 was “unmitigated”, left to spread without any lockdown restrictions, the R number could become “greater than five and maybe up to seven”.  More...

UK: one week until B.1.617.2 Delta coronavirus variant takes off

9th June 2021: If the previous waves of Sars-CoV-2 in the UK are anything to go by, Britain is less than one week away from the B16172 Delta variant exploding into another full-blown national health crisis.  More...

Cameroon: travel-driven emergence and spread of SARS-CoV-2 lineage B.1.620 with multiple VOC-like mutations and deletions in Europe

“In this study we have presented evidence that a SARS-CoV-2 lineage designated B.1.620, first detected in Europe in late February, is associated with Central Africa, where it appears to circulate at very high prevalence, and has been introduced into Europe and the US on multiple occasions.  More...