UK PM Boris Johnson says new COVID-19 variant has 'higher mortality rate'

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that new UK mutant of coronavirus identified in souast England has a higher rate of mortality than SARS-CoV-2. Speaking at Downing Street press conference, UK PM warned that government might introduce broader restriction measures as new strain detected in September might be 30 per cent deadlier than previously thought. Johnson said that variant identified as B.1.1.7, spreads nearly 30-70 per cent faster than dominant coronavirus strain. "iI may be associated with a higher degree of mortality," UK’s PM revealed Friday. 

Furrmore, Boris Johnson’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance explained that aver fatality rate in vulnerable groups over 60-year-old from COVID-19 was about 10 per 1,000. However, new variant’s fatality rate on aver was found to be 13 or 14 out of 1,000. Meanwhile, Johnson added, that UK’s National Health Service (NHS) is under such intense pressure, with ar 40,261 positive cases since yesterday, of which 38,562 were hospitalized, nearly 78 per cent higher than first peak in April. As many as 1,401 covid-related deaths have been reported. In a positive update, UK’s PM informed, “ vaccines we are currently using remain effective both against old variant and this new variant".

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Increased risk of death

Johnson’s chief scientific advisor, Vallance said: "I want to stress re's a lot of uncertainty around se numbers and we need more work to get a precise handle on it, but it obviously is a concern that this (variant, B117) has an increase in mortality as well as an increase in transmissibility". He added that findings were provided to British government by New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group, or NERVTAG. team compared mortality rates infected with both older and new strains of coronavirus and found that new mutant of coronavirus is more fatal. NERVTAG summary found a “realistic possibility” that infection with B.1.1.7 variant “is associated with an increased risk of death compared to infection with n-VOC (virus of concern) viruses,” Vallance warned. 

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