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In UK, people infected with the Delta variant of Covid-19 are found to be twice as likely to be admitted to hospital compared to the Alpha variant, aa per a new study. Carried out by Public Health England (PHE) and Cambridge University the study is published in The Lancet’ journal. The study compares the hospitalization risk of the two variants and attends to the need for people to be fully vaccinated. It has been confirmed by the study that previous reports of Delta first identified in India is more infectious than Alpha first identified in Kent, England. 

As reported by News18, "the results of this study suggest that outbreaks of the Delta variant in unvaccinated populations might lead to a greater burden on health-care services than the alpha variant. The study was conducted at 43,338 Covid-19 positive cases that occurred between March and May when both Alpha and Delta were circulating in the UK." 

Dr Gavin Dabrera, a consultant epidemiologist at the National Infection Service at PHE said, "This study confirms previous findings that people infected with Delta are significantly more likely to require hospitalisation than those with Alpha, although most cases included in the analysis were unvaccinated. We already know that vaccination offers excellent protection against Delta and as this variant accounts for over 98% of Covid-19 cases in the UK, it is vital that those who have not received two doses of vaccine do so as soon as possible." 

Dr Nikki Kanani, the Indian-origin NHS medical director of primary care and deputy lead for the vaccination programme said, "Increasing vaccine confidence has been at the heart of the NHS rollout and staff who know and care for their local communities are continuing to go above and beyond to set up sites that meet their patients’ needs."