ARCHIVED - The Delta variant accounts for at least 43 per cent of new Covid cases in Spain
The proportion continues to grow and the latest data relate to cases detected two weeks ago
It is becoming increasingly clear that the recent surge in coronavirus case numbers in Spain is due in large part to the spread of the Delta variant of the virus, which now accounts for all but 100 per cent of cases in the UK, and Spanish government figures published on Monday report that the strain is responsible for 43 per cent of new confirmed cases across the country.
Such is the virulence of the variant that in all likelihood that proportion has already risen to well over half as the figures relate to the week ended 4th July. At that point the prevalence of the strain was very different among the different regions of Spain, ranging from 8 per cent of cases analysed in La Rioja to 83.4 per cent in the Balearics and 85.7 per cent at a single hospital in the Comunidad Valenciana.
Other significant proportions are reported Navarra (77.8 per cent), Aragón (64.5 per cent), the Canaries (63.2 per cent), the Basque Country (60.6 per cent) and Galicia (56.7 per cent).
Meanwhile, the data point to a decrease in the prevalence of the Gamma (or “Brazilian” variant) and a rise in the presence of the Beta or “South African” variant (B.1.351), especially in the region of Castilla y León, with these two strains accounting for between 0.2 and 9.6 per cent in the 12 regions where they were detected.
No new data are presented regarding the Lambda variant (C.37), which was first detected in Peru, but it is believed that the strain is still widespread in Cantabria, where the week before it accounted for 37 per cent of cases analysed.