LONDON: People are twice as likely to need hospital care if they are sick with the Delta Covid variant, data from England suggests.

Experts have said that the bid study published in The Lancet has reinforced why it is important that people get fully jabbed, BBC has reported.

The study, led by Public Health England (PHE) and the Medical Research Council, looked at 43,338 Covid cases that occurred between March and May – when both Alpha, also known as Kent, variant, and Delta were circulating in the UK, according to BBC.

The bulk of these infections were in people who had not yet been vaccinated, it said.

Most did not need hospital care, but a small proportion – 196 (2.3%) of the people infected with Delta and 764 (2.2%) of those with Alpha – did, the report said.

Risk of hospital admission was twice as high for individuals diagnosed with the Delta variant, compared to those with Alpha, after adjusting for differences such as age, sex and ethnicity.

Experts say being vaccinated should bring down this risk. Both doses are needed for maximum protection.

It takes a couple of weeks from receiving your second dose to get the fullest protection against Covid.

(With inputs from BBC)