[ad_1]
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks during a press conference in response to the current situation with the coronavirus.
Toby Melville – WPA Pool / Getty Images
The new strain of coronavirus identified in the UK could be not only more transmissible but also more deadly, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Friday.
“There now also appears to be some evidence that the new variant … may be associated with a higher degree of mortality,” he told a news conference in Downing Street.
The government’s chief scientist, Patrick Vallance, said the new variant could be around 30 percent more deadly, though he emphasized that only scant data was available.
He said that for a 60-year-old man, about 10 out of 1,000 would be expected to die after contracting the original strain.
But that goes up to “13 or 14” for the new strain.
“You will also see that in different age groups, a similar type of relative increase in risk,” he added.
Johnson said the government could not consider easing the lockdown restrictions with infection rates at their current high levels, and until it is confident that the vaccination program is working.
“It cannot be unlocked while infection rates are so high,” he said.
“We really can’t begin to consider unlocking until we are sure the vaccination program is working.”
Britain is in the grip of its third and worst wave of the virus, recording a record number of daily deaths that have brought the total to nearly 100,000.
It was announced Friday that another 1,401 people had died within 28 days of testing positive, bringing the total to 95,981.
More than 38,500 people were hospitalized with Covid-19, 78 percent more than during the first peak last year.
The warning about the increased risk of death from the new variant, which was identified in England late last year, was a further blow after the country had previously been boosted by news that the number of new infections by COVID-19 was dropping by as much as 4% a day.
Johnson said, however, that all current evidence shows that both vaccines remain effective against new and old variants.
Data released earlier on Friday showed that 5.38 million people had received their first dose of a vaccine, and 409,855 received it in the past 24 hours, a record so far.
The latest estimates from the Ministry of Health suggest that the number of new infections was decreasing by 1% to 4% per day. Last week, cases were thought to be growing by as much as 5%, and the change gave hope that the spread of the virus was slowing down, though the ministry urged caution.
The closely watched reproduction “R” number was estimated to be between 0.8 and 1, down from a range of 1.2 to 1.3 last week, meaning that, on average, every 10 people infected they will infect eight to ten more people.
But the Office for National Statistics estimated that the overall prevalence remained high, and about one in 55 people had the virus.
“Cases remain dangerously high and we must remain vigilant to keep this virus under control,” the Health Ministry said. “It is essential that everyone stays home, whether they have been vaccinated or not.”
On average, one in 55 people contract the virus in England, rising to one in 35 in London, said medical director Chris Whitty.
Although cases appear to have stabilized, hospitals are in danger of being overwhelmed and the government is in a race to vaccinate as many vulnerable people as possible.
Johnson said that about 5.3 million people had taken their first hit and that the government was on track to achieve its goal of vaccinating 15 million of the most vulnerable by mid-February.
Vallance said there is “increasing evidence” that the AstraZeneca / Oxford and Pfizer vaccines used in Britain are effective against the new strain.
