Report: New variant of COVID arriving in US could be deadlier

The COVID-19 variant identified in England last month could pose a higher risk of causing death although data is limited, according to one of the government’s science advisory groups, ITV political editor Robert said on Friday. Peston, on Twitter.

Early evidence suggests the variant of the coronavirus that has emerged in the UK may be deadlier, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said.

“In addition to spreading faster, it now appears that there is evidence that the new variant – the variant that was first identified in London and the South East – may be associated with a degree of mortality higher, ”Johnson said.

“It’s largely the impact of this new variant that means the NHS is under such intense pressure.”

Although the new variant is more contagious, UK health and science officials have so far said there is no evidence that it is more deadly or causes more serious illness.

However, Peston said the government advisory group on New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats (Nervtag) had now concluded that it “could be a little more deadly than the existing strain.”

He quoted a statement from Neil Ferguson, professor at Imperial College and member of the Nervtag, as saying: “It is possible that the new British variant will increase the risk of death, but there remains considerable uncertainty.”

No one was immediately available for comment from the UK Department of Health, which covers Nervtag.

The statement Peston cited indicated a 1.3 times risk of death with the variant, but also pointed out that only certain types of tests could specify which variant of the virus a patient had contracted.

“The big caveat is that we don’t know what strain people were infected with for about 8% of deaths,” Ferguson said, also citing Ferguson, also pointing out the limitations of the data available.

Sir Patrick Vallance, first scientific adviser to the government, told the BBC the evidence for lethality “is not yet strong”.

He said: “I want to stress that there is a lot of uncertainty around these numbers and that we need more work to get accurate management, but it is obviously of concern that this is leading to increased mortality. as well as an increase in transmissibility. “

The new variant appears to be around 30% more deadly.

For example, with 1,000 60-year-olds infected with the old variant, 10 of them can be expected to die. But that drops to around 13 with the new variant.