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The World Health Organization (WHO) declared on Wednesday that the highly transmissible Delta variant has been confirmed to have spread to more than 80 countries.<\/p>\n
The count represents a boost from last week when WHO said the variant had spread to at least 74 countries.<\/p>\n
The Delta strain, originally detected in India, is thought to be around 60 percent more contagious than the previously detected Alpha strain, first found in the U.K.<\/p>\n
Background:\u00a0<\/strong>The variant, which is also known by the scientific name B.1.617.2, now makes up 10 percent of all COVID-19 infections in the U.S. \u2013\u00a0up from the estimated more than\u00a06 percent last week<\/a><\/p>\n The Delta strain became the dominant variant in the U.K. earlier this month, overtaking the Alpha variant. Last week, the U.K. reported a 240 percent increase in Delta variant cases in seven days, leading the strain to make up more than 90 percent of all cases.<\/p>\n