Recently, the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the UK has risen sharply. American experts urge the UK to investigate whether the newly confirmed cases are related to the variant virus Delta+ as soon as possible.
The United Kingdom has reopened and lifted its anti-epidemic measures faster than other European countries, but the number of confirmed cases has begun to climb again in recent days. According to official data, the United Kingdom notified on the 17th that 45,140 people had been infected in the past 24 hours, is the highest number of confirmed cases in a single day since mid-July.
In the past 6 weeks, the number of deaths per week in the UK has exceeded 800, which is the highest among major Western European countries.
The highly infectious Delta variant of COVID-19 first appeared in India. British scientists estimate that the Delta strain is 40% to 80% more infectious than the Alpha variant, and the Alpha strain is already more infectious than the original strain.
Since then, the Delta strain itself has been mutated. The Public Health Agency of England (PHE) stated that this new variant called K417N has appeared in at least 11 countries including the UK, the US, and Japan. Indian officials refer to K417N as Delta+.
British scholars said at the end of June, that so far there is no evidence that further mutations are worrying. Earlier this month, a German study pointed out that although Delta and Delta+ variant viruses are more likely to infect lung cells than the original COVID-19 virus, there is no evidence that Delta+ is more dangerous than Delta.
