Covid-19 Delta variant: how infectious it is and how it may ‘shift thinking’ on countries reopening

The highly transmissible Delta coronavirus variant is exposing the vulnerability of economies with low vaccination rates, such as Australia and Hong Kong. Catherine Bennett, public health expert and epidemiologist at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia, explains how infectious the variant is and how it could force jurisdictions to rethink their reopening plans. Currently the variant is circulating in at least 85 countries and is believed to be 60 per cent more transmissible than the Alpha variant first identified in Britain.