A report today in the Moscow Times is perhaps indicative of how unlikely we are to get out of this pandemic mess any time soon. As you have probably heard Moscow has had record high cases recorded of Covid. So this latest story is a matter for concern.
"Delta is considered the most contagious variant of the coronavirus yet. Studies have shown that it is at least
40% more transmissible than the Alpha variant first detected in the United Kingdom last year, which in turn was about 50% more
transmissible than the Wuhan strain
What makes the Delta variant especially dangerous, doctors in hospitals across Moscow said in interviews last week, is that it does not seem to respond as well to treatments previously used on Covid-19 patients.
“The drugs we have been using throughout the pandemic are getting less effective, we have to use large doses,” said Anton, a doctor treating Covid patients in Clinical Hospital Number 52, who asked for his last name to be withheld due to new legislations forbidding medics from talking to the media.
Studies in India have already indicated that antibody drugs and Covid-19 vaccines are less
effective against the Delta variant.
“What we did before just isn’t working anymore,” said Yekaterina, a medic working at Moscow’s Clinical Hospital Number 50.
On June 10, the chief doctor of Moscow's flagship Covid-19 hospital, Denis Protsenko,
told the Echo Moskvy radio station that patients were not responding to previously effective treatments."
