STA, 16 July 2021 - The delta strain of coronavirus has overtaken alpha as the dominant strain in Slovenia in just weeks. In the latest round of sequencing a full 89% of the samples were delta, show data released on Friday by the National Laboratory of Health, Environment and Food.
Delta, first detected in India, was first confirmed in sequencing five weeks ago and only last week it still accounted for a small though growing share of infections.
The surge in delta is largely the result of a huge outbreak among two groups of students who returned from a school trip to Spain in early July.
While the laboratory does not have information of which samples were from these specific students, it said 60% of the delta samples sequenced this week were among those aged 17 or 18. The regional breakdown of cases confirms that as well.
The alpha variant, first detected in the UK, was confirmed in under 7% of the samples sequenced this week.
