HAVANA, Cuba, Aug 16 (ACN) Maria Guadalupe Guzman, director of research, diagnosis and reference of the Pedro Kouri Institute of Tropical Medicine, said today that the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 is the one that currently predominates in Cuba.
Speaking on the television program dedicated to updating the epidemiological situation in the country, she pointed out that since late 2020; the island has reported the entry of 16 variants of the virus.
The graph presented by the specialist showed that in April, the Beta variant (popularly known as South African) predominated in the national territory; however, as of June, the presence of Delta began to visibly increase.
This one, which was first reported in India, is now present in 140 countries, and has been replacing the previous ones, she stressed.
Delta is the most contagious, causes a considerably higher viral load and only needs four days to be transmitted – in the originals it was six to eight days, Guzman added.
It is essential to work along two lines in the face of this scenario: to advance with the vaccination process to reach 85-90 % coverage of the population, and to rigorously maintain compliance with hygienic-sanitary measures, the expert concluded.