Most symptoms of breakthrough infection are mild and don’t last as long. Breakthrough infection occurs when a vaccinated person tests positive for SARS-Cov-2, regardless of whether they have symptoms.īreakthrough infection appears more common with Delta than the original strains. Can you still get COVID after being vaccinated? While protection is lower for Delta than the original strain, studies show good coverage for all vaccines after two doses. So far, the data show a complete course of the Pfizer, AstraZeneca or Moderna vaccine reduces your chance of severe disease (requiring hospitalisation) by more than 85%. Shutterstock How do the vaccines stack up against Delta? Similarly, a published study from Scotland found Delta doubled the risk of hospitalisation compared to the Alpha variant.Įmerging evidence suggests Delta is more likely to cause severe disease than the original strain. This compared with a 38% chance of developing pneumonia and 11% needing oxygen with the original strain. In the Singapore study, patients with Delta had a 49% chance of developing pneumonia and a 28% chance of needing extra oxygen. This compared with other variants of concern which landed 5.4% of people in hospital and 1.2% in intensive care. In the Canadian study, Delta resulted in a 6.1% chance of hospitalisation and a 1.6% chance of ICU admission. Preliminary studies from Canada and Singapore found people infected with Delta were more likely to require hospitalisation and were at greater risk of dying than those with the original virus.
Is it more deadly?Įvidence the Delta variant makes people sicker than the original virus is growing.
Longer-lasting symptoms can include fatigue, shortness of breath, chest pain, heart palpitations, headaches, brain fog, muscle aches, sleep disturbance, depression and the loss of smell and taste. Like the original strain, the Delta variant can affect many of the body’s organs including the lungs, heart and kidneys.Ĭomplications include blood clots, which at their most severe can result in strokes or heart attacks.Īround 10-30% of people with COVID-19 will experience prolonged symptoms, known as long COVID, which can last for months and cause significant impairment, including in people who were previously well.Įven previously well people can get long COVID. With faster replication and higher viral loads it is easy to see why Delta is challenging contact tracers and spreading so rapidly. For Delta, the viral load is up to roughly 1,200 times higher than the original strain. But there is often a gap between when a person becomes infectious to others to when they show symptoms.Īs the virus replicates, the viral load increases. The time from virus exposure to symptoms is called the incubation period. People with COVID-19 appear to be most infectious two days before to three days after symptoms start, though it’s unclear whether this differs with Delta. Although often there are no symptoms yet, the person has become infectious.
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