By Elishya Perera
LONDON (CU)_British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says the new variant of COVID-19 first detected in UK “may be associated with a higher degree of mortality”.
The Prime Minister made these comments during a news briefing held on Friday (Jan 22), at 10 Downing Street.
Although studies previously suggested the new strain is more infectious, in fact 30 to 70 per cent more transmissible, however, this is the first time the authorities suggest that the strain may also be more deadly.
England’s chief scientific adviser, Patrick Vallance, said, for example, if 1000 men in England age 60 or older were infected, the original virus would have killed around 10, while the new variant would kill 13 or 14 of them, which suggests a 30 per cent rise in mortality.
However, Vallance stressed that there is “a lot of uncertainty around these numbers”, and noted that authorities “need more work to get a precise handle on it”.
“But it obviously is a concern that this has an increase in mortality as well as an increase in transmissibility,” he added.
Nevertheless, the country’s chief scientific adviser did not explain if this rise in mortality was owing to something inherent in the strain, or as a result of the country’s health system being overwhelmed and therefore unable to prevent otherwise survivable cases from becoming deadly.
This new variant, which is dominant in Britain, has now been detected in more than 50 countries across the globe, and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say it could also become predominant in the United States within two months.
In addition to the “UK variant,” several other mutations have also been discovered in South Africa and Brazil, which certain experts say could be resistant to COVID-19 vaccines developed so far. However, British authorities maintain that the existing vaccines remain effective against the UK variant.
Vallance argues that the new strains discovered elsewhere have “certain features” which may cause them to be “less susceptible to vaccines”.
