The research reveals that the new coronavirus strain B.1.1.7 is significantly more lethal than the previous variants.
A highly infectious variant of COVID-19 first discovered in the UK is between 30 to 100 percent more deadly than previous strains, the researchers said.
In a study that compared mortality rates between people in the UK infected with the variant known as B.1.1.7 with those infected with other strains, the scientists said the new strain had “significantly higher” mortality.
Published in the British Medical Journal on Wednesday, the UK study found that infection with what is commonly known as the “UK variant” led to 227 deaths in a sample of 54,906 patients with COVID-19, compared with 141 among the same number of patients infected with other variants.
“Coupled with its ability to spread quickly, this makes B.1.1.7 a threat that must be taken seriously,” said Robert Challen, a researcher at the University of Exeter who co-led the research.
B.1.1.7 was first detected in the English county of Kent in September 2020 and has since become the dominant strain in the United Kingdom.
It spread quickly and more than 100 other countries have reported cases since then.
The variant has 23 mutations in its genetic code – a relatively high number of changes – and some of them have made it much more capable of spreading.
UK scientists say it is about 40-70 percent more transmissible than the first wave coronavirus.
Its rapid spread in the United Kingdom at the end of last year fueled an increase in cases and deaths and, on January 4, forced a new national blockade – the country’s third since the pandemic began.
To date, the UK has recorded more than 4.3 million cases of COVID-19. The virus has killed almost 125,000 people across the country – one of the worst deaths in the world.
In an attempt to contain the crisis, authorities have launched a mass vaccination campaign that has seen more than 22.5 million people – about a third of the UK’s adult population – receive at least one dose of a vaccine to date. .
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said last month he is confident that the vaccines currently in use in the UK – produced by Oxford-AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNtech – are “effective in protecting against death and serious illnesses”.
His comments came amid fears about the emergence of two other highly infectious virus strains – the so-called Brazilian and South African variants, known to scientists as 20I / 501Y.V2 or B.1.351 and P.1, respectively.
According to the World Health Organization, COVID-19 vaccines that are currently under development or have been approved in various parts of the world should provide at least some protection against the new variants.