Deadly Delta strikes country

Health authorities have confirmed that the deadly delta variant of covid-19 is infecting the country through rapid community transmission since January this year.

This followed the 10 recent samples sent to Australia for genomic sequencing that confirmed the presence of the delta variant from those samples.

Health and Medical Services Minister Dr Culwick Togamana confirmed the results on Tuesday.

“More recently, we had sent 10 more samples to Australia and all the samples showed the presence of the delta variant, so we can now be reasonably sure that the Delta is the variant that is currently circulating in Honiara and in the Provinces,” Togamana said.

Scientifically, Delta is believed to be more than twice as infectious as previous variants, and studies have shown that it may be more likely than the original virus to put infected people in the hospital.

Studies have shown that people who are not vaccinated are most at risk, and the highest spread of cases and severe outcomes is happening in places with low vaccination rates.  

Studies also show that people who are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus continue to have strong protection against COVID-19 compared to those who aren’t.

While most Delta infections have been in people who have not had a vaccine, data also has shown the variant to have increased transmissibility even among some vaccinated people.

As a result of these data, Minister Togamana strongly encourage people to get vaccinated.

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