The World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Wednesday to closely monitor the contagiousness of the AY.4.2 line of the Delta variant of the coronavirus, which is increasingly present in people who contract COVID-19. “An increase in the transmission of the AY.4.2 sequence has been observed since July,” indicates the WHO in its weekly update on the pandemic.
The line has three more mutations than the original Delta variant, including two on the spike protein – the part of the virus that attaches to human cells.
AY.4.2 sequences have been entered into the global GISAID database from 43 countries. Ninety-three percent were from the UK, where a gradual increase in the proportion of new cases is seen: this line accounted for 5.9% of all Delta variant cases reported in the UK during the week starting on October 3.
“Epidemiological and laboratory studies are underway” to establish whether AY.4.2 is more contagious or weakens antibodies, according to the WHO.
European rise
The COVID-19 pandemic has killed more than 4.96 million people since the virus was detected in China at the end of 2019, according to an AFP report established from official sources. In total, more than 244 million cases have been identified. Last week, the number of new cases climbed 4% from the previous week, with 2.9 million new infections recorded. Europe is the only region in the world to report an increase. The total number of deaths increased by 5%, to more than 49,000 deaths.
Among the new contaminations, the proportion of those under 25 has been increasing since the beginning of July, in particular in Europe and in the western Pacific. The reason could be that older people are more likely to be vaccinated, that young people have more social contact, or that the virus is circulating in schools as face-to-face classes gradually resume, explains the WHO.
The organization has statistics according to the gender of the patients for a part (123 million) of the recorded cases. Among these cases, women account for 51% of infections, but men account for 58% of deaths.
The death rate of people over 65 has collapsed since September 2020, probably thanks to vaccination and better clinical management of patients, according to the WHO.
Today, 47% of the world’s population has already received at least one dose of vaccine against COVID-19, says the WHO.