Some evidence that the new variant may be associated with a higher degree of mortality: Boris Johnson (Archive)
London:
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.
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 on 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, 78 percent more than during the first peak last year.
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.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is posted from a syndicated channel.)
.
