Faster-spreading strain of Covid affects young people the most, study finds

[ad_1]

© 2020 Anadolu Agency
LONDON, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 29: A woman walks past a sign at University College Hospital in central London on October 29, 2020. Has the coronavirus pandemic reached a ‘critical’ stage? in England with 96,000 new infections in a single day and infections doubling every nine days, according to Imperial College London (ICL) on Thursday. Health Secretary Matt Hancock has announced that 16 more areas in England will move to Level 2 restrictions, the second highest level, from Saturday. (Photo by Kate Green / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

(Bloomberg) – The new variant of coronavirus that has emerged in the UK is more transmissible and appears to affect a greater proportion of people under the age of 20, according to a report from Imperial College London and other scientific groups .

The worrying mutation has “a substantial transmission benefit” and is linked to “epidemic growth in almost all areas,” the scientists wrote. This can increase the virus’s reproduction rate, which indicates the number of people infected by a patient, up to 0.7, researchers said.

“This will make monitoring more difficult and further heighten the urgency of rolling out vaccination as quickly as possible,” said Neil Ferguson, a professor at Imperial who worked on modeling the epidemic.

Social distancing measures that worked against earlier strains of the virus were insufficient to control the spread of the new variant, according to the study. The government previously said the new strain was up to 70% more transmissible than other versions, without providing documentation.

Video: The first cases of a new strain of Covid have been identified in the United States – Here’s what we know so far (CNBC)

The first cases of a new strain of Covid have been identified in the United States – Here’s what we know so far

The researchers used statistical tools to assess the link between transmission and frequency of the new variant across the UK. The data has informed the government’s pandemic planning in recent weeks, Ferguson said.

It’s possible that the new variant seems to infect young people the most, as the research was conducted at a time when there were lockdowns but schools remained open, scientists said.

For more articles like this please visit us on bloomberg.com

[ad_2]

Source link