Mounted police patrol Bondi Beach in Sydney. More than five million people in the Australian city and surrounding areas entered a 14-day lockdown on Saturday, June 26. EPA
Mounted police patrol Bondi Beach in Sydney. More than five million people in the Australian city and surrounding areas entered a 14-day lockdown on Saturday, June 26. EPA
Dog owners speak along a deserted street in Ankara. Dog walking is permitted during lockdowns in Turkey. AP
Dog owners speak along a deserted street in Ankara. Dog walking is permitted during lockdowns in Turkey. AP
Officials check the vaccination certificates of people entering The Avenues Mall, the largest shopping centre in Kuwait. AFP
Officials check the vaccination certificates of people entering The Avenues Mall, the largest shopping centre in Kuwait. AFP
Artists perform Shakespeare's 'The Tempest' at Thorington Theatre in the Woods, near Southwold, Britain, after coronavirus restrictions were relaxed. Reuters
Artists perform Shakespeare's 'The Tempest' at Thorington Theatre in the Woods, near Southwold, Britain, after coronavirus restrictions were relaxed. Reuters
A woman receives the Sinovac shot as Thailand's resort island of Phuket vaccinates its population, before the July 1 deadline to end strict quarantine for overseas visitors. Reuters
A woman receives the Sinovac shot as Thailand's resort island of Phuket vaccinates its population, before the July 1 deadline to end strict quarantine for overseas visitors. Reuters
Vera Kuznetsova receives a vaccine dose at home in the village of Loznoye in Volgograd, Russia. Reuters
Vera Kuznetsova receives a vaccine dose at home in the village of Loznoye in Volgograd, Russia. Reuters
Demonstrators calling for nightclubs to reopen gather during the Save Our Scene protest in London. Reuters
Demonstrators calling for nightclubs to reopen gather during the Save Our Scene protest in London. Reuters

Health

Delta Plus: what is it and how does it differ from the Delta coronavirus variant?

Delta Plus is a mutation of the Delta variant, a more infectious version of the virus that causes Covid-19

Georgia Tolley
Georgia Tolley

June 28, 2021

  • English
  • Arabic

Read also: Highly contagious Delta variant accounts for one in three UAE cases

Health officials announced on Sunday that one in three Covid-19 infections in the UAE stemmed from the highly contagious Delta variant.

Delta is the name given to the variant first detected last October in India.

It prompted a devastating surge in case numbers in the country and is also responsible for more than 90 per cent of new infections in the UK, according to Public Health England.

A potentially more transmissible mutation of Delta was recently discovered in India, identified as Delta Plus.

The World Health Organisation says the mutation could prove to be more deadly as time goes on.

But what is the new strain and how does it differ from Delta, already described a variant of concern by the WHO.

What is the Delta variant?

The WHO has given names to coronavirus variations in an effort to remove any stigma associated with the countries where they were first detected.

Greek letters have been assigned to the strains in the order they were designated variants of concern, starting at Alpha for the strain first detected in the UK last year.

The Delta variant was first recorded in India and is 60 per cent more infectious than the Alpha strain, according to the British authorities.

Doctors have said it affects patients differently to the original coronavirus.

Common symptoms include fever, headaches and a runny nose. At first, it appears more like a head cold, with a sore throat and sneezing.

Delta does not seem to affect patients' sense of smell.

If you have any symptoms, the authorities recommend regular testing for Covid-19, to prevent the disease spreading among the community.

Roy Cooper / The National
Roy Cooper / The National

What is the Delta Plus variant?

Delta Plus is a mutated version of Delta, which is also known as B.1.617.2.

It has been named 'Plus' locally, but its official name is Delta-AY.1.

The Delta strain is characterised by the K417N mutation in the spike protein of the Sars-CoV-2 virus that causes the Covid-19 disease.

This mutation is also present in the Beta variant, first found in South Africa.

There are concerns the variant could be 50 per cent more transmissible than other strains, but epidemiologists have said more sequencing needs to be done.

“There is speculation regarding higher transmissibility and infectivity of the Delta Plus variant, but there is no definitive data to support this,” said Binay Panda, a professor of biotechnology at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.

Delta mutation 'becoming more deadly'

Dr Soumya Swaminathan, the WHO's chief scientist, admitted there were concerns about the new strain.

"The reason it's been called Plus is because it has another mutation, which is also seen in the Beta and Gamma variants, which could potentially also impact the antibody killing off the virus," she said.

"So there's a bit of concern that this strain may be becoming even more deadly, because it's now going to become resistant to drugs and vaccines.

"The good thing is that there are still very few cases that have been described globally, so we can track what is happening.

"We need more studies to see whether this Delta variant with this additional mutation has any other properties. We are tracking that and are collecting that information."

Where is Delta Plus spreading?

Exhausted ambulance crew members on Covid-19 duties collapse on a bench at a crematorium grounds in Guwahati, north-east India. AFP
Exhausted ambulance crew members on Covid-19 duties collapse on a bench at a crematorium grounds in Guwahati, north-east India. AFP
Health workers inoculate an elderly man against Covid-19 coronavirus in his village, in the Sundarbans area, 100 kilometres south of Kolkata, in eastern India. AFP
Health workers inoculate an elderly man against Covid-19 coronavirus in his village, in the Sundarbans area, 100 kilometres south of Kolkata, in eastern India. AFP
Pedestrians with and without masks walk along La Bola, in Ronda, Andalusia, in southern Spain, after the government eased Covid-19 restrictions. Reuters
Pedestrians with and without masks walk along La Bola, in Ronda, Andalusia, in southern Spain, after the government eased Covid-19 restrictions. Reuters
A nurse pushes Covid-19 patient in a wheelchair at Honorio Delgado Hospital in Arequipa, Peru. Due to surge of Delta variant cases, the city is under lockdown. AP Photo
A nurse pushes Covid-19 patient in a wheelchair at Honorio Delgado Hospital in Arequipa, Peru. Due to surge of Delta variant cases, the city is under lockdown. AP Photo
Cars queue at a drive-through Covid-19 testing centre at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia. Sydney and surrounding areas have gone into lockdown for two weeks following a surge of Delta variant cases. EPA
Cars queue at a drive-through Covid-19 testing centre at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia. Sydney and surrounding areas have gone into lockdown for two weeks following a surge of Delta variant cases. EPA
People queue to register for the AstraZeneca Covid-19 coronavirus vaccine in Denpasar, on Indonesia's resort island of Bali. AFP
People queue to register for the AstraZeneca Covid-19 coronavirus vaccine in Denpasar, on Indonesia's resort island of Bali. AFP
A man sits in the observation area after receiving a Covid-19 vaccine at a mobile bus clinic in Los Angeles, California. The US will miss President Joe Biden's goal of delivering at least one coronavirus vaccine dose to 70 percent of adults by the 4th of July holiday. Getty Images
A man sits in the observation area after receiving a Covid-19 vaccine at a mobile bus clinic in Los Angeles, California. The US will miss President Joe Biden's goal of delivering at least one coronavirus vaccine dose to 70 percent of adults by the 4th of July holiday. Getty Images

The earliest case of Delta Plus was in India from a sample taken on April 5.

The Indian authorities said there have now been 50 cases and three deaths across three states, including Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh. The cases were found by sequencing 45,000 samples.

As a consequence, India's richest state, Maharashtra, has tightened lockdown restrictions.

The Indian Health Ministry said Delta Plus showed increased transmissibility and advised states to increase testing.

The spread was mostly very localised, said Balram Bhargava, director general of the Indian Council of Medical Research.

However, at least 12 other countries have reported cases of Delta Plus, including the US, UK, Japan, Russia and China, he said.

Portugal's Health Minister Marta Temido, said they had detected 24 cases on June 23.

Britain said its first five cases were sequenced on April 26 and they were contacts of individuals who had travelled from, or transited through, Nepal and Turkey.

Why is Delta Plus a cause for concern?

Studies are taking place to test the effectiveness of India's vaccines against the Delta Plus variant. AFP / Punit PARANJPE
Studies are taking place to test the effectiveness of India's vaccines against the Delta Plus variant. AFP / Punit PARANJPE

As with all variants, the concern is that they could be more transmissible or more deadly.

Immunologists also worry about vaccines' effectiveness against new variants.

Shahid Jameel, a senior Indian virologist, said K417N was known to reduce the effectiveness of a cocktail of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies, medicines like the newly available Sotrovimab, which help the body fight Covid-19 infections.

Studies are taking place to test the effectiveness of India's vaccines against the Delta Plus variant, including AstraZeneca’s Covishield and Bharat Biotech International's Covaxin.

"We should have the results in about 7 to 10 days' time whether the vaccine is working against the Delta Plus," Mr Bhargava said.

The WHO said it was tracking the variant.

"For the moment, this variant does not seem to be common, currently accounting for only a small fraction of the Delta sequences. Delta and other circulating variants of concern remain a higher public health risk as they have demonstrated increases in transmission," it said.

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While you're here
While you're here

Director: Romany Saad
Starring: Mirfat Amin, Boumi Fouad and Tariq Al Ibyari

Tips for used car buyers
  • Choose cars with GCC specifications
  • Get a service history for cars less than five years old
  • Don’t go cheap on the inspection
  • Check for oil leaks
  • Do a Google search on the standard problems for your car model
  • Do your due diligence. Get a transfer of ownership done at an official RTA centre
  • Check the vehicle’s condition. You don’t want to buy a car that’s a good deal but ends up costing you Dh10,000 in repairs every month
  • Validate warranty and service contracts with the relevant agency and and make sure they are valid when ownership is transferred
  • If you are planning to sell the car soon, buy one with a good resale value. The two most popular cars in the UAE are black or white in colour and other colours are harder to sell

Tarek Kabrit, chief executive of Seez, and Imad Hammad, chief executive and co-founder of CarSwitch.com

The National's picks

4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young

Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
  • 400m Olympic running track
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The chef's advice

Troy Payne, head chef at Abu Dhabi’s newest healthy eatery Sanderson’s in Al Seef Resort & Spa, says singles need to change their mindset about how they approach the supermarket.

“They feel like they can’t buy one cucumber,” he says. “But I can walk into a shop – I feed two people at home – and I’ll walk into a shop and I buy one cucumber, I’ll buy one onion.”

Mr Payne asks for the sticker to be placed directly on each item, rather than face the temptation of filling one of the two-kilogram capacity plastic bags on offer.

The chef also advises singletons not get too hung up on “organic”, particularly high-priced varieties that have been flown in from far-flung locales. Local produce is often grown sustainably, and far cheaper, he says.

Our legal advisor

Ahmad El Sayed is Senior Associate at Charles Russell Speechlys, a law firm headquartered in London with offices in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Hong Kong.

Experience: Commercial litigator who has assisted clients with overseas judgments before UAE courts. His specialties are cases related to banking, real estate, shareholder disputes, company liquidations and criminal matters as well as employment related litigation. 

Education: Sagesse University, Beirut, Lebanon, in 2005.

SPEC%20SHEET
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While you're here
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*Annual tuition fees covering the 2024/2025 academic year

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Herc's Adventures

Developer: Big Ape Productions
Publisher: LucasArts
Console: PlayStation 1 & 5, Sega Saturn
Rating: 4/5

FIXTURES

Thu Mar 15 – West Indies v Afghanistan, UAE v Scotland
Fri Mar 16 – Ireland v Zimbabwe
Sun Mar 18 – Ireland v Scotland
Mon Mar 19 – West Indies v Zimbabwe
Tue Mar 20 – UAE v Afghanistan
Wed Mar 21 – West Indies v Scotland
Thu Mar 22 – UAE v Zimbabwe
Fri Mar 23 – Ireland v Afghanistan

The top two teams qualify for the World Cup

Classification matches 
The top-placed side out of Papua New Guinea, Hong Kong or Nepal will be granted one-day international status. UAE and Scotland have already won ODI status, having qualified for the Super Six.

Thu Mar 15 – Netherlands v Hong Kong, PNG v Nepal
Sat Mar 17 – 7th-8th place playoff, 9th-10th place play-off

On Women's Day
On Women's Day
Breast cancer in men: the facts

1) Breast cancer is men is rare but can develop rapidly. It usually occurs in those over the ages of 60, but can occasionally affect younger men.

2) Symptoms can include a lump, discharge, swollen glands or a rash. 

3) People with a history of cancer in the family can be more susceptible. 

4) Treatments include surgery and chemotherapy but early diagnosis is the key. 

5) Anyone concerned is urged to contact their doctor

 

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