Covid in US ‘going to get worse’, warns Fauci as Delta variant surges

As the more contagious Delta variant of the novel coronavirus is spreading across the United States, Anthony Fauci, White House chief medical advisor, has warned that "things are going to get worse".

"We are looking, not I believe, to lockdown but we are looking to some pain and suffering in the future because we are seeing the cases go up," Fauci, director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Sunday, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.

"The solution to this is, get vaccinated," he said.

The latest data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed a 64.1 per cent increase in Covid-19 cases in the country over the week ended July 30 compared with the previous week, or an average of 66,606 cases a day.

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The US is currently battling a resurgence of the coronavirus in the form of the new Delta variant, which is more contagious than the original strain. Vaccines have proven effective against the variant, but many Americans – about 30 per cent of adults – have not even gotten their first shot.

In recent weeks, Covid hospitalisations have soared in states with low vaccination rates, like Missouri and Arkansas. States with high vaccination rates, meanwhile, have largely been spared.

Vaccines however cannot stop the spread of the virus, at least not completely. Researchers recently discovered that the Delta variant can still be transmitted by a vaccinated person, even if that person is not seriously ill.