Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Friday, that the new strain of coronavirus in Britain may not just be more transmissible, but also more deadly. In a news conference Johnson said, “It also now appears that there is some evidence that the new variant may be associated with a higher degree of mortality.”
According to chief government scientist Patrick Vallance, the new variant could be around 30% more deadly, although he stressed that only sparse data was available. He added that for a 60-year-old man, around 10 in 1,000 would be expected to die after catching the original strain. But that rises to 13 or 14 for the new strain. “You will see that across the different age groups as well, a similar sort of relative increase in the risk,” he added.
Britain’s current COVID status
Britain is in the grip of its third and worst wave of the virus, recording record daily death tolls that have pushed the total figure close to 100,000.
Another 1,401 people were announced on…