“While the Delta variant has already been detected in 15 countries or territories (of the American continent), so far it has been mainly associated with cases in travelers,” said Carissa Etienne, head of PAHO
Community transmission of the Delta variant of the coronavirus remains " very limited " across the Americas, the director of the PAHO, the regional office of the World Health Organization (WHO), said Wednesday.
“ While the Delta variant has already been detected in 15 countries or territories (of the American continent), so far it has been mainly associated with cases in travelers ,” said Carissa Etienne, head of the Pan American Health Organization ( PAHO ), at a press conference.
“Community transmission of the Delta variant remains very limited, while other variants continue to predominate,” he said, referring to Alpha and Gamma, initially detected in the United Kingdom and Brazil, respectively.
Delta , originally identified in India, is now the dominant strain of the COVID-19 virus in the United States .
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the main US public health agency, reported that 51.7% of cases were associated with this variant in the two weeks prior to July 3.
Etienne acknowledged that Delta has been on the rise in the United States and is becoming predominant in some states, but stressed that this pattern may not be replicated in the rest of the region.
“ The situation in the United States does not necessarily allow us to predict how this variant will affect other countries ,” he said, emphasizing that the distribution of COVID-19 strains has always been different among American countries.
According to data compiled by PAHO, as of July 6, Delta had been detected in the United States, Canada and Mexico, as well as in four South American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Peru).
No cases linked to Delta had been reported in Central America, but infections of this strain had been reported in the Caribbean in Aruba, Barbados, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Puerto Rico, Saint Maarten and Saba.
“ It is difficult at this time to predict what the impact of the Delta variant will be on our region ,” Etienne insisted.
Therefore, regardless of which variant prevails, he called for taking all public health measures that have proven effective in reducing virus transmission, such as proper mask use, social distancing, hand hygiene, " and, of course, vaccination ."
According to the latest PAHO report, Alpha had been identified in 41 American countries, Gamma in 27, and Beta (first reported in South Africa) in 20.
Delta has been described as highly infectious.