【Notice No.37】Important Reminders Regarding the Emerging Delta Variant
1. Not only elderly people are highly susceptible to Delta variant infection, but also young populations.
2. Spread of the Delta variant can be driven by immune escape and none of the current vaccines – regardless of the brands – can guarantee complete protection. It makes that vaccinated individuals may be prone to overlook the breakthrough infection and cause the risk of transmission.
3. Compared to the original COVID-19 viruses and other variants, the Delta variant replicates more efficiently and is thus with high transmissibility. Therefore, people with less delta viral load may still pose a risk of infection and transmission. It also raises the concern that confirmed cases using the current Ct standard as the release criteria may still need to pay attention to the potential risk of transmission to other people.
4. The Delta variant is more difficult to be detected than the other variants. Even using a highly sensitive PCR for diagnosis can show transiently positive and negative results, which renders the infected cases being misdiagnosed as uninfected. Furthermore, the incubation period of the Delta variant may exceed the current 14-day quarantine period, so it is very crucial to adhere to self-health management for the next 7 days.
Please do not contact other people or enter the public areas within 21 (14+7) days to protect your family and friends. Be aware of any symptoms related to COVID-19 (fever, respiratory symptoms, loss of smell or taste, diarrhea etc.). If so, please seek for immediate medical treatments and COVID-19 screenings.
5. It is more likely to detect Delta viral infection in symptomatic individuals using home screening kit. During the asymptomatic stage, the kit may not be very useful.
Final reminder:
The most crucial and effective ways to prevent from the Delta variant infection are always:
- wearing a mask properly and thoroughly
- keeping your hands clean and sanitized regularly
- maintaining social distancing whenever possible.
Source: Dr. Chao-Chin Chang, Distinguished Professor from the Graduate Institute of Microbiology and Public Health, NCHU
Translated by Office of International Affairs, NCHU
