The highly transmissible Delta variant of COVID-19 is quickly spreading throughout the United States, the Biden administration said on Tuesday in a renewed effort to persuade Americans to get vaccinated.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, told reporters that the Delta strain, which was first identified in India, now accounts for about 6% of new infections in the U.S.
(The World Health Organization shifted how it names coronavirus variants earlier this month, opting to refer to them by letters of the Greek alphabet rather than the regions they were first seen. The change was made to reduce the stigma associated with country-affiliated nomenclature.)
