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

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The new variant of the coronavirus that has emerged in the UK is more transmissible and appears to affect a higher 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 rate of reproduction of the virus, 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, 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 had previously said the new strain was up to 70% more transmissible than other versions, without providing documentation.

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.