Professor Phan Trong Lan, Director of Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City, said that the Delta variant (B.1.167.2, first discovered in India) is considered by the World Health Organization (WHO) to be capable of spreading rapidly.

Virus gene sequencing results show that the Delta variant is dominant in the 4th epidemic, especially in the central and southern provinces today.

`It is not certain that the Delta variant causes more severe disease, but when the number of cases increases, as well as overloading the medical system, it may lead to a higher death rate,` Professor Lan said.

The Delta variant was first discovered in Yen Bai, then spread to many places including Bac Giang, the locality leading the number of community cases in the 4th epidemic. With nearly 5,000 cases from April 27 to the morning of July 3,

Dr. Le Quoc Hung, Head of the Department of Tropical Diseases, Cho Ray Hospital, said that when a new mutation occurs, there will be a group with high virulence and a group with lower virulence.

Doctor Hung analyzed that highly virulent viruses will cause early symptoms, infected people will be detected, isolated and treated separately.

According to Dr. Hung, Delta is a variant with a higher infection rate but the virus core remains the same, the difference is usually on the virus spikes.

`For example, with old strains, the number of virus spikes may be less, and reflexes such as swallowing may prevent the virus from attaching to cells in the oropharynx, so it does not cause infection,` Dr. Hung explained.

Doctor Nguyen Tri Dung, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Center for Disease Control (HCDC), at the meeting of the Anti-Epidemic Steering Committee of Ho Chi Minh City, on the afternoon of June 25, added that nCoV, after being transmitted through many generations, will

Sharing the same opinion, Associate Professor Nguyen Huy Nga, former Director of the Department of Preventive Medicine (Ministry of Health), said that the new Delta strain makes this epidemic more complicated.

`Therefore, although searching for F0 is necessary, in the current situation it is almost impossible,` Mr. Nga emphasized.

Authorities are spraying disinfectant at Binh Tan market after discovering many new cases.

Analysis of epidemic data in Bac Giang and Ho Chi Minh City recently, by VnExpress, shows that during the 36 days of the outbreak, Ho Chi Minh City recorded an average of 118 cases per day;

Currently, the Department of Health of Ho Chi Minh City strengthens special working groups in high-risk areas such as Tan Son Nhat station, maritime ports, bus stations, railway stations…, monitoring epidemic prevention in industrial parks

Southern provinces such as Dong Nai, Tien Giang, Phu Yen, Binh Thuan, and Quang Ngai continue to expand social distancing and isolation zones as the number of new infections increases.

Experts also recommend that people need to be more aware of the importance of 5K measures to protect themselves and their families from the increasingly complicated developments of the epidemic.