Almost 17% of Italy’s Covid-19 cases are due to the Delta and Kappa coronavirus variants, which have surged in the past month.
The national health institute ISS announced the figures on Friday, saying the Delta variant was becoming dominant.
“Cases of the Kappa and Delta variants …rose from 4.2% in May to 16.8% in June”, based on data extracted on June 21, the institute said.
Delta – variant of concern
Both Delta and Kappa are sublineages of a variant originally detected in India. The WHO consider Delta a “variant of concern”.
The Alpha coronavirus variant, originally detected in the UK in 2020, remains the most widespread in Italy. It represents 74.9% of cases.
“Our epidemiological monitoring shows a rapidly evolving picture that confirms that also in our country, as in the rest of Europe, the Delta variant of the virus is becoming dominant,” Anna Teresa Palamara, director of ISS Infectious Diseases Department, said in a statement.
Variants rise but overall virus numbers falling
Since first recognition of the coronavirus in February last year, Italy has registered 127,380 deaths. That is the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the eighth-highest in the world.
In total, Italy has reported 4.26 million cases to date.
However, the number of cases has been falling for weeks. Thursday’s new infections number fell to 927 from 951, the health ministry said.
