New study shows Delta Covid variant doubles hospital risks

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A new study finds that the risk of someone with COVID-19 needing hospital treatment doubles with the delta variant compared to the alpha strain.

The study, published in the medical journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases, looked at more than 43,000 cases in England between March and May.

Most of the people who took part in the study were not immunized, nearly three-quarters of them, the Mirror reported, while 1.8 percent received both vaccinations.

Read more: A symptom of Covid turns out to be the main indicator of the virus – not a cough or fever

It found that about one in 50 patients hospitalized within two weeks of their first positive test equates to 2.3 percent of delta cases and 2.2 percent of those with the alpha variant.

The researchers then adjusted these numbers to take into account other factors to more than double the risk of hospitalization with the delta variable compared to the alpha variable.

These included the person’s age, race, and vaccination status.

Variable delta doubles the risk that people with Covid will need hospital treatment, a study finds (Image: Getty Images)

Dr Gavin Dabrira, one of the study’s lead authors and a consultant epidemiologist at the National Infection Service, Public Health England, said: “This study confirms previous findings that people with delta require significantly more hospitalization than those with alpha, although they were Most of the cases included in the analysis are not immune.

“We already know that vaccination provides excellent protection against Delta, and since this variant accounts for more than 98 per cent of Covid-19 cases in the UK, it is essential that those who have not received two doses of the vaccine do so as soon as possible.

“It is still important that if you have symptoms of Covid-19, stay home and get a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test as soon as possible.”

The authors said that no conclusions could be drawn about the risks among those who had been vaccinated and continued to become infected, and studies had shown a link between vaccination and the prevention of serious illness caused by the coronavirus.

Data from the UK government shows that 88.2 per cent of people aged 16 or over have had at least one dose of the vaccine, and 90.2 million doses overall.

Dr Anne Brisanis, one of the study’s lead authors and chief statistician in the Biostatistics Unit at the University of Cambridge Medical Research Centre, said: “Our analysis highlights that in the absence of vaccination, any outbreak in the delta region would impose a greater burden on healthcare than an alpha epidemic.

“Having a full vaccination is critical to reducing an individual’s risk of developing symptoms of delta disease in the first place, and most importantly, decreasing a delta patient’s risk of serious illness and hospitalization.”

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