[Thread]: 1.@Tuliodna the #DeltaVariant is now spreading extremely fast in SA and has become the dominant variant, as is the case in many other countries in the world.
2. This slide shows how the #DeltaVariant (green) is spreading in SA. Look at how the green has overtaken the yellow (this represents the Beta variant) over time.
3. The #DeltaVariant is causing many, many more deaths in Indonesia and Russia (not because it causes more severe disease, necessarily, but because it's so much more transmissible and therefore causes so many more cases).
4. In SA the #DeltaVariant is currently spreading the fastest in:
1. Limpopo
2. Kwazulu-Natal
3. Mpumalanga
5. In Limpopo we've had more than 1000 #COVID19 daily cases in a 7 day rolling average in the last week of June. This is the province where the #DeltaVariant is currently spreading the fastest.
6. In Mpumalanga and the Western Cape the #DeltaVariant is also spreading rapidly. In Gauteng the concern is that the province has reached the highest number of excess deaths since the start of the #COVID19 pandemic in SA.
7. The issue with the #DeltaVariant is that it is so transmissible (likely twice as transmissible as the original form of the virus and it is also more transmissible than the Beta variant that was previously dominant in SA). But vaccines work relatively well against Delta.
8. Even after just one dose of the #Pfizer vaccine, there is considerable protection (94%) against severe disease (so hospitalisation) caused by the #DeltaVariant.
9. A study published in the journal Nature on Thursday showed that vaccines are more effective against the #DeltaVariant than variants such as the Beta variant. It's important that SA expands its vaccine options.
10. The Delta Plus variant has a very low prevalence in SA and the Lambda variant from South America (Peru) has not been detected in SA. The #DeltaVariant is the variant to be worried about.
11. There is no evidence (currently) that the Lambda variant will overtake the #DeltaVariant in the world or in SA.
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