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Home > News > World News > Article > Delta variant infections doubling every 11 days in England says study

Delta variant infections doubling every 11 days in England, says study

Updated on: 18 June,2021 07:48 AM IST  |  London
Agencies |

Finds link between infections, hospitalisations and deaths had been weakening since Feb, but since late April, trend has reversed for hospitalisations

Delta variant infections doubling every 11 days in England, says study

A person walks by closed shops in Blackburn on Wednesday. The UK government on Monday announced a four-week delay to lifting restrictions due to rise in infections caused by Delta variant. Pic/AFP

The number of people infected with coronavirus is increasing rapidly in England, doubling every 11 days, which coincides with the Delta variant of Covid-19 becoming dominant in the country, a new study reports on Thursday.


The Imperial College London led Real-time Assessment of Community Transmission (REACT-1) analysis, based on over 100,000 home swab tests taken between May 20 and June 7, estimates that 0.15 per cent of people have the deadly virus, or roughly 1 in 670. 


It found that the link between infections, hospitalisations and deaths had been weakening since February, but since late April, the trend has reversed for hospitalisations. 


“We found strong evidence for exponential growth in infection from late May to early June in the REACT-1 study, with a doubling time of 11 days on average for England,” said Prof. Paul Elliott, director, REACT programme, Imperial’s School of Public Health. “This data coincides with Delta variant becoming dominant and shows the importance of continuing to monitor infection rates and variants of concern in the community,” he said.

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US to develop antiviral pills 

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AstraZeneca safety age raised

Australia has raised the age for which the AstraZeneca vaccine is recommended to 60 from 50 after it was blamed for a 52-year-old woman’s death last week from blood clots in the brain. 

Japan eases virus emergency  

Japan on Thursday will ease a coronavirus state of emergency in Tokyo and six other areas next week, as it begins final preparations for the Olympics starting in over a month.  

Also Read: Covid-19: Mumbai sees a dip in fresh infections again at 666

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