| WHO says Delta COVID-19 variant has spread to at least 80 countries The World Health Organization (WHO) declared on Wednesday that the highly transmissible Delta variant has been confirmed to have spread to more than 80 countries. The count represents a boost from last week when WHO said the variant had spread to at least 74 countries. The Delta strain, originally detected in India, is thought to be around 60 percent more contagious than the previously detected Alpha strain, first found in the U.K. Background: The variant, which is also known by the scientific name B.1.617.2, now makes up 10 percent of all COVID-19 infections in the U.S. – up from the estimated more than 6 percent last week The Delta strain became the dominant variant in the U.K. earlier this month, overtaking the Alpha variant. Last week, the U.K. reported a 240 percent increase in Delta variant cases in seven days, leading the strain to make up more than 90 percent of all cases. Follows: The CDC labeled the Delta variant as a "variant of concern" on Tuesday after concerns have mounted about the strain causing outbreaks among unvaccinated people in the U.S. But the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, which are both mRNA vaccines, are about 88 percent effective against the variant. Read more here. Appeals court affirms North Carolina's 20-week abortion ban is unconstitutional North Carolina's decades-old ban on abortions after 20 weeks is unconstitutional, a federal appeals court found on Wednesday. The decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit affirms the decision of a lower court, which first struck down the ban two years ago. It has been a felony in North Carolina for the past 140 years to procure or administer an abortion, but following the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade ruling in 1973, the law was amended to bar abortions after 20 weeks, with exemptions for medical emergencies. The lawsuit was filed by a group of abortion providers and advocates in 2015, after the state legislature narrowed the medical exemption and further restricted the type of doctors permitted to perform abortions to "qualified physicians." The amendments also instituted a 72-hour waiting period that women must observe before obtaining an abortion. Read more here. Regeneron antibody cocktail cut COVID-19 deaths in some cases: research Oxford University on Wednesday released a study that found that a COVID-19 antibody cocktail created by Regeneron reduces the risk of death due to the coronavirus. The treatment known as REGEN-COV, which was granted emergency use authorization in the U.S. in November, was found to be able to neutralize the COVID-19 virus's ability to infect cells. The treatment uses a combination of the monoclonal antibodies casirivimab and imdevimab. Of the patients that were observed in the study, the Regeneron cocktail reduced mortality by one-fifth among patients who were seronegative — had not developed an antibody response to the virus yet — when compared to similar patients who received normal care. The researchers estimated, based on their observations, that treatment with Regeneron would result in six fewer deaths for every 100 patients who received the cocktail. Read more here. What we're reading Royal Caribbean's launch of its new megaship just got sidelined by COVID cases (NPR) Lifelong exercise adds up to big health care savings (The New York Times) The science around the lab leak theory hasn't changed. But here's why some scientists have. (NBC News) Temp checks, digital menus and 'touchless' mustard: The maddening persistence of 'hygiene theater' (Washington Post) State by state Coronavirus vaccination gap remains for some groups in Mass., state officials say (The Boston Globe) Test Iowa program to end in July as demand for coronavirus tests wanes (Des Moines Register) Missouri Medicaid expansion trial begins Friday (KPVI) Op-eds in The Hill We're re-opening, but pandemic social costs will linger | 
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