The spread of the delta variant: Australia fears infection in seconds

Friday 25 June 2021

spread of delta version
Australia fears infection in seconds

The situation is easing in Germany, with Australian metropolis Sydney entering a new lockdown. The head of government of the affected state speaks of “probably the most dangerous moment” since the start of the pandemic. The “volatile” spread of the delta is of particular concern.

In the Australian metropolis of Sydney, hundreds of thousands of people are only allowed out of their apartments and homes for a week if it is extremely necessary. Health officials hope the strict lockdown will allow them to stop the spread of the delta wave. They fear that even a fleeting contact of five to ten seconds is enough to transmit the highly contagious form of coronavirus.

New South Wales state health chief Kerry Chant recently explained in Australian media how quickly the delta variant can become infected. He described the recently documented transmission at the Bondi Junction Westfield shopping mall in Sydney as a “terrifyingly fleeting” encounter. Images from a security camera show how two people – one of them infected – face each other for only a short time. “Then they pass each other. Very close, but only briefly”.

It is believed that this moment was sufficient for transmission – in at least two other cases. “The virus was apparently in the air long enough for an unfortunate passer-by to become infected by breathing in,” said Griffith University virologist Lara Herrero. “It takes a lot of bad luck. It’s really unfortunate.” With the previous variant, health experts had assumed that a transmission would take up to 15 minutes.

Delta Edition deserves the gold medal

Officials are particularly concerned about a coronavirus cluster in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, where the number of new cases rose to 65 in a matter of days. The most recent outbreak can be traced to the driver service that brought an airplane crew to a quarantine hotel about two weeks ago. So most of the five million residents have not been allowed to leave the city since Wednesday to prevent the virus from spreading to other parts of the country. This rule has now been extended till next Friday.

The head of government of New South Wales, Gladys Berejiklian, had already exposed the transitory transmission of the delta variant on Tuesday. “We have to admit that the Delta version is the gold medalist in jumping from person to person,” she said, impressed. This is perhaps the most dangerous moment for his state since the pandemic began.

Due to very strict rules, Australia has so far brought the epidemic under control. Only 30,400 cases have been confirmed across the country in a population of 25 crore. So far 910 people have died due to Kovid-19. However, the vaccination campaign is progressing at a slow pace. So far about 6.7 million doses have been given, of which some Australians have received a second. The borders have been closed since March 2020.