This was big headline news today in the US as well:

Study: Vaccinated people can carry as much virus as others

The findings have the potential to upend past thinking about how the disease is spread. Previously, vaccinated people who got infected were thought to have low levels of virus and to be unlikely to pass it to others. But the new data shows that is not the case with the delta variant.

The delta variant, first detected in India, causes infections that are more contagious than the common cold, flu, smallpox and the Ebola virus, and it is as infectious as chickenpox, according to the documents, which mentioned the Provincetown cases.

'The war has changed,' CDC says, calling for new response to Delta variant

An internal CDC document said the variant, first detected in India and now dominant across the globe, is as contagious as chickenpox and far more contagious than the common cold or flu. It can be passed on even by vaccinated people, and may cause more serious disease than earlier coronavirus strains.

And we're coming off summer holidays in the northern hemisphere, the Olympics, and heading in to the school year. Just before this new wave in Japan, we had a four day national holiday, and people were out and stores were packed.

As I've said before, the next 6-8 months will tell us a lot about where this is going.