Covid-19 variant identified in India may increase risk of hospitalization, UK officials say
CNN
The B.1.617.2 coronavirus variant that was first identified in India is now believed to be dominant in the United Kingdom, Public Health England (PHE) said Thursday, adding that early evidence suggests it could cause an increased risk of hospitalization in comparison to the strain that was first detected in England.
While PHE cautioned that more data is needed, its early findings showed that the B.1.617.2 or "Delta" variant was more likely to cause serious illness than the B.1.1.7 or "Alpha" variant, which had been dominant in the UK since it was first detected in southeast England last fall. An analysis of 38,805 sequenced cases in England showed that the Delta variant carried 2.61 times the risk of hospitalization within 14 days compared with the Alpha variant, when variables such as age, sex, ethnicity and vaccination status were taken into consideration.President Joe Biden on Sunday delivers his first commencement address of the 2024 season at Morehouse College, where the president may for the first time in months have to confront the angst that’s been percolating on college campuses nationwide toward his administration’s policies on the Israel-Hamas war.
Arab and Palestinian Americans left a meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday night frustrated they did not have a clear understanding of how the Biden administration might act upon their concerns as the Israel-Hamas war devastates the civilian population in Gaza, participants told CNN.