Fauci urges US vaccinations as harmful variant spreads in UK

U.S. health officials said Tuesday that the more harmful Covid-19 variant known as Delta has surged in the U.K., a country with high vaccination levels, in a warning to states as inoculation fades across the U.S.

Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and an adviser to President Joe Biden, said at a news briefing that the Delta variant that was first reported in India now accounts for more than 6% of cases being sequenced in the U.S. while in the U.K. it has overtaken the Alpha variant that originated there. ”It’s essentially taking over” in the U.K., Fauci said. "We cannot let that happen in the United States.” The Delta variant has now been reported in 60 countries, including the U.S., he said.