New British strain said to affect young people more

The new variant of the coronavirus that arose in the UK is more transmissible and seems to affect a higher proportion of people under 20, according to a report by Imperial College London and other scientific groups.

The viral mutation has raised concerns because it has “a significantly higher transmission capacity“And is related to”epidemic growth in almost all areasThe scientists wrote. You can increase the virus reproduction rate, which indicates the number of people infected by a patient, up to 0.7, according to the researchers.

England expand lockdowns trying to contain new strain

“This will make the more difficult control and further accentuates the urgency of administer the vaccine as quickly as possible“, said Neil ferguson, a professor at Imperial College who worked on modeling the epidemic.

The study found that social distancing measures that worked against earlier strains of the virus were insufficient to control the distribution of the new variant. The government had previously stated that the the new strain was up to 70% more transmissible than other versions, without providing documentation.

Everything we know about the new strain of coronavirus in the UK

Researchers used statistical tools to assess the link between transmission and frequency of new variant across the UK. In recent weeks, the data has provided the information needed for government planning to deal with the pandemic, Ferguson said.

The new variant of the virus may seem affects young people more because the research was conducted at a time when there was lockdowns, but schools were still openscientists explain.

EuDr