The first wave of Covid 19 spread devastation across almost every country out there on the surface of planet earth. Million lives were taken, economies were torn apart, and livelihoods were stolen. If we take the liberty to say that this generation had never seen something like this, then we wouldn’t be too far from being right. The fear in everyone’s eyes was highly apparent as they wrapped their around the sheer uncertainty surrounding their life. A “new normal” was introduced, and things like face-masks and sanitizers became of utmost importance. It’s been a year since this tragedy first struck the world, and we haven’t really fully recovered from it yet. Yes, we now have the vaccine with us, but returning to the old ways might take a bit of time, and considering the latest developments, it might take longer than initially imagined. As if the original coronavirus wasn’t enough, we now have to deal with new variant of it that is dubbed as “Covid on steroids”. First identified in south Asian region, this new variant of Covid might be about to subject the world to an even worse fate. Andy Slavitt, former White House senior advisor for Covid 19 response, described this new strain as:
“(The Delta variant) is a more virulent strain,” Slavitt said during an interview with CNN. “This is like Covid on steroids. You can be around people for less time and still get exposed.”
This new variant has picked up the label of “variant of concern” by The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. To give you a bit of context, this label is only given to strains of a virus that are believed to be more transmissible and equipped with more potential to cause severe diseases.
As per the reports, this variant has already stepped into the United States. It currently takes up a slice of 10% in country’s total coronavirus cases. Nevertheless, it’s not all doom and gloom on the horizon. There has been an indication that the vaccine being used for immunizing against original Covid 19 is proving to be effective for this variant as well. A study done by Public Health England claims that two doses of Covid vaccine are “highly effective” to prevent hospitalization caused by this variant.
