Delta variant takes hold in developing world as infections soar

The Delta coronavirus variant that has rapidly become dominant across much of the world is exacting a grim toll on dozens of developing countries, where vaccination levels are insufficient to prevent a surge in cases from becoming a wave of deaths. As economies in Europe and the US that have successfully weakened the link between infections and deaths have started to reopen, poorer countries with low vaccination rates are in some cases entering their worst phase of the pandemic. “The world thinks this epidemic is over,” said Fatima Hassan, founder of South Africa’s Health Justice Initiative. “But we still don’t have enough vaccine supplies in the system despite the global realisation that the Delta variant is so devastating.” The Delta variant first identified in India accounts for 95 per cent of cases in South Africa where the genetic code has been sequenced. Fewer than 3 per cent of people are fully vaccinated in South Africa, where the rollout of the jab has been hampered by supply failures and, more recently, a wave of political violence.