"delta-variant"

The Delta variant is becoming the dominant strain of the virus in several of these countries, with infections mostly being reported among people who have yet to be vaccinated.

On the global level, vaccination drives have accelerated, thereby, triggering hopes for a faster economic rival of the world economy.

Director of Public Health, Dr G Srinivasa Rao urged people to be responsible and follow Covid appropriate behaviour

Daily new Covid infections fail to drop significantly unlike the first wave due to the variant

As on Monday, there were 27,714 new positive cases in England, with 331 people were admitted to hospital with COVID-19 and there were 1,611 patients in hospital.

The new restrictions add to obstacles faced by 34,000 Australian citizens and permanent residents stranded overseas and registered with the government.

WHO's Regional Director for Europe, Hans Kluge warned that new variants, deficit in vaccine uptake and increased social mixing would cause a new wave of excess hospitalisations.

Africa has reported many new outbreaks of the variant as Tunisia, Mozambique, Uganda, Nigeria and Malawi are among the 11 countries targeted by Delta.

The Department said on Thursday that it has so far identified more than 9,400 variant cases in Illinois, of which more than 6,300 are the Alpha strain first found in the UK

Indonesia saw its number of confirmed new cases climb to nearly 10,000 a day on Wednesday, an increase blamed on travel during last month's Eid al-Fitr holiday.

"The present status is that yes, a new variant has been found. This is as of now a Variant of Interest (VoI), not as yet classified a VoC," NITI Aayog Member (Health) V.K. Paul clarified it in a Covid-19 media briefing.

Vaccination rate must go up 3-fold to cover 80% of adult population by Sept, given the rapid mutation of the virus

According to Public Health England (PHE), which monitors all COVID variants in the country, Delta variant infections rose by 5,472 in a week to hit a total of 12,431 on Thursday.