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

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

Furthermore, Boris Johnson’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance explained that the average fatality rate in the vulnerable age groups over 60-year-old from COVID-19 was about 10 per 1,000. However, the new variant’s fatality rate on average was found to be 13 or 14 out of 1,000. Meanwhile, Johnson added, that the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) is under such intense pressure, with another 40,261 positive cases since yesterday, of which 38,562 were hospitalized, nearly 78 per cent higher than the first peak in April. As many as 1,401 covid-related deaths have been reported. In a positive update, UK’s PM informed, “The vaccines we are currently using remain effective both against the 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 there's a lot of uncertainty around these 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 the findings were provided to the British government by the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group, or NERVTAG. The team compared the mortality rates infected with both the older and the new strains of coronavirus and found that the new mutant of coronavirus is more fatal. NERVTAG summary found a “realistic possibility” that infection with the B.1.1.7 variant “is associated with an increased risk of death compared to infection with the non-VOC (virus of concern) viruses,” Vallance warned. 

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