New Report Shows the UK Coronavirus Strain Is More Dangerous

Apr, 2021 - By WMR

A new study revealed that the new variant of coronavirus will be considerably more dangerous resulting to an increased death rates than the original strain of the virus.

In end of 2020, public health officials revealed the discovery of a new strain of SARS-CoV-2, which they dubbed a "variant of concern" (VOC). The mutation was given the name B.1.1.7 and became recognized as the UK variant anecdotally. The rapid spread of B.1.1.7 led to speculation that it was highly infectious even more than earlier versions of the virus. And, while it's becoming clear that this UK version is more contagious than previous strains, it's still uncertain if it causes more serious disease. The new study examined over 50,000 demographically matched pairs of verified COVID-19 cases to see how they fared in terms of mortality. A variety of variables, including age, sex, and location, were used to match pairs.

Leon Danon, the author of the study explained that they focused on the analysis on the cases that happened in the time frame of November 2020 till January 2021, it was the period during both the variants were present in UK. Which meant that they were able to get maximum matches and minimum bias. The B.1.1.7 cohort had 227 casualties opposed to 141 deaths in related subjects diagnosed with previous strains of the virus, according to the researchers.

As a result, those diagnosed with the UK version were 64 times more likely to experience new virus strain than those infected with previous viral strains, according to the report. NERVTAG (New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group), an independent expert committee, who recently submitted a study to the UK government, concluding that B.1.1.7 causes more hospitalization and mortality than previous variants. It's still uncertain if this unique SARS-CoV-2 version is more lethal, and some experts, including Julian Tang of the University of Leicester, aren't sure whether the B.1.1.7 is more lethal.