Coronavirus variant discovered in Britain has significantly higher death rate: study

Name: Covid-19: coronavirus variants seen in Britain, South Africa spread worldwide
Uploaded: 2021-03-10T15:06:40.000Z
Duration: 4 min 14 s
Description: Covid-19: coronavirus variants seen in Britain, South Africa spread worldwide

The B.1.1.7 strain is between 30 per cent and 100 per cent more deadly than previous dominant variants, a British study found

It has 23 mutations in its genetic code and some of them have made it far more easily spread

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Reuters

Published: 11:06pm, 10 Mar 2021Updated: 11:28pm, 10 Mar 2021

A highly infectious variant of Covid-19 that has spread around the world since it was first discovered in Britain late last year is between 30 per cent and 100 per cent more deadly than previous dominant variants, researchers said on Wednesday.

In a study that compared death rates among people in Britain infected with the new SARS-CoV-2 variant – known as B.1.1.7 – against those infected with other variants of the Covid-19-causing virus, scientists said the new strain’s mortality rate was “significantly higher”.

The B.1.1.7 variant was first detected in Britain in September 2020, and has since also been found in more than 100 other countries.

It has 23 mutations in its genetic code – a relatively high number – and some of them have made it far more easily spread. Scientists say it is about 40 per cent-70 per cent more transmissible than previous dominant variants that were circulating.

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Covid-19: coronavirus variants seen in Britain, South Africa spread worldwide

In the UK study, published in the British Medical Journal on Wednesday, infection with the new variant led to 227 deaths in a sample of 54,906 Covid-19 patients, compared with 141 among the same number of patients infected with other variants.