About "Delta", the State Council's joint defense and control mechanism press conference authoritative answer!

The delta variant was first found in COVID-19 cases reported in India in September 2020. The World Health Organization announced on May 10 this year that the delta variant would be included in the COVID-19 variant of global concern. At present, it has been prevalent in more than 130 countries and regions, and has become the main virus strain of the global COVID-19 pandemic. This virus strain has the characteristics of rapid transmission, rapid replication in vivo, and long negative transformation time.

Relevant scientific research and epidemic prevention and control practices at home and abroad show that the delta mutant has not caused subversive changes in the biological characteristics of COVID-19, the source of infection and transmission routes are basically clear, and the existing epidemic prevention and control measures are still effective for the delta mutant. The existing vaccines still have good preventive and protective effects, can reduce the risk of transmission of the virus in the population, reduce the transmissibility of infected persons, and effectively reduce the incidence of severe illness and mortality after infection. Some time ago, China successfully blocked the transmission of the local epidemic of Delta mutant in several cities in Guangdong Province, which is densely populated and highly mobile, for the first time, proving that vaccination, wearing masks, washing hands frequently, maintaining social distance, avoiding crowd gathering and other measures are effective.

Source: National Health Commission

Editor: Yang Minghao