US state identifies 64 Covid cases of Delta variant

Chicago, June 18 The Department of Public Health in the US state of Illinois has identified 64 cases of the Covid-19 Delta variant.

The Department said on Thursday that it has so far identified more than 9,400 variant cases in Illinois, of which more than 6,300 are the Alpha strain first found in the UK, followed by the Gamma variant first identified in travellers from Brazil with more than 2,400 cases, Xinhua news agency reported.

Though identified cases of the Delta variant make up the smallest number in Illinois so far, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has estimated that it may account for about 10 per cent of emerging Covid-19 cases in the US.

The CDC has labelled Delta as a "variant of concern".

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker said at a news conference on Thursday that his main concern regarding the variant is for children younger than 12, for whom a vaccine has yet to be authorised.

"The Delta variant seems to have been most predominant among people who are unvaccinated, and so those kids are who I'm focused on," Pritzker added.

The good news is that the available vaccines are resistant to the Delta variant, the Governor said.

The state of Illinois has so far reported 1,388,586 confirmed coronavirus cases and 25,552 deaths.