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Fauci said earlier that virus surveillance in the United States is not at the level he would have liked to see. However, vaccines against the South African strain, as well as the ‘British’ variant of the coronavirus, would still be successful, he said.
The director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and current advisor to US President Joe Biden, Anthony Fauci, warned on Sunday that new data suggested that the COVID-19 strain that first appeared in the UK could be more deadly than the original.
“We have to assume now that what is circulating in the UK has an increase in virulence, which means the virus can cause more damage, including death,” Fauci said in an interview with CBS.
Fauci said UK officials initially claimed the new version was no more dangerous, but after a report found it to be around 30% more deadly in older people, they have now turned the tide.
Among 60-year-olds in the UK, the average death rate was around 10 per 10,000. But with the latter strain, in the same population there were around 13 or 14 deaths per 10,000.
“We want to examine the data ourselves, but we have every reason to believe it. It’s a very capable group, ”Fauci said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the British strain has been confirmed in at least 22 countries.
Fauci claimed that the vaccines available for COVID-19 still appear to be successful against the variant, although he acknowledges that there may be a “very slight decrease” in safety. However, he said that when it comes to another new strain first found in South Africa, which appears to be more resistant to the vaccine, it is “a little more worrying” so that health authorities and businesses may need to step up their vaccines in the country. to come up.
“It appears that this further decreases the effectiveness of the vaccine, but we are still in this cushion level of vaccines being beneficial against these mutants,” Fauci said. “Having said that, we’re going to look at that and follow that very carefully because these things are evolving. What we’ll do and do is prepare for the possibility that… ultimately, we may have to modify and upgrade the vaccine. “
The kingdom’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Friday that the evidence showed “a higher death rate” from the new variant, which could reach 30%, although some scientists have questioned the conclusions drawn at the advanced.
The UK notified the World Health Organization in December of a mutated version of the new coronavirus that is believed to be 70% more transmissible than other strains. Although the latest strain did not prove to be more pathogenic, several countries have closed their borders with the UK and have suspended travel. However, the closures so far have not stopped the variant from spreading.
The United States leads the global coronavirus count, with more than 25 million reported infections and more than 418,000 virus-related deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
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