US President Joe Biden has announced a set of new Covid-19 measures to prevent a new wave of the virus.
The new measures require workers at large companies to receive their vaccination or face weekly testing.
Moreover, the measures include a vaccine mandate for millions of federal government workers. But, they come as cases in the country are surging.
Hospitals in several states have reached capacity amid the spread of the more transmissible Delta variant.
The new requirements cover about 100 million workers.
“This is not about freedom, or personal choice, it’s about protecting yourself and those around you,” the president said as he unveiled his plan.
More than 650,000 Americans have died with Covid-19 since last year. Some 80 million people in the US remain unvaccinated.
Delta Doubles COVID Risk of Hospitalisation
A British study founds that people who get COVID-19 from Delta variant are twice likely to go to hospital compared with Alpha variant.
Thus, the study mainly focused on unvaccinated or partially vaccinated people has found.
The analysis underscores Delta’s ability to put people in hospital once infected, especially those who have not been vaccinated.
According to the findings, only 1.8% of the 43,000 COVID-19 cases assessed in comparing the two variants were in patients who completed their vaccination.
About one in 50 patients were in hospital within 14 days of their first positive Covid test. 2.2% of Alpha cases vs 2.3% of Delta cases, the study found.
However, the researchers found the risk of going to hospital was higher with the Delta variant in comparison with the Alpha variant.
