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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says a new variant of the coronavirus circulating in the UK may be more deadly.
There was “some evidence that the new variant … may be associated with a higher degree of mortality,” Johnson said at a news conference Saturday (NZT).
Sir Patrick Vallance, the British government’s chief scientific adviser, said mortality in hospitals appeared the same between the original and the new virus variant.
Frank Augstein / AP
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Out of every 1,000 people aged 60 and over, about 10 could be expected to die from the original virus, he said.
However, with the new variant, that increased to about 13 or 14.
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The data around him was still uncertain, he emphasized.
The news came as the UK recorded another 1,401 deaths within four weeks of a positive Covid-19 test.
The total death toll from the pandemic in Britain is now 95,981.
The R rate is estimated to be between 0.8 and 1 in the UK, and nearly 5.4 million people have received the first dose of their vaccine.
Sooner
