The New UK COVID Strain Could Be Deadlier Than Expected

The New UK COVID Strain Could Be Deadlier Than Expected
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The UK continues to be the second most affected European country by the COVID-19 pandemic, reporting over 4 million infections and a death toll of over 117,000 souls. The new coronavirus strain that emerged in the UK last year in September was the culprit of a higher infection rate than previous variants of the virus.

According to ScienceAlert.com, the new COVID strain from the UK causes a much higher risk of mortality. The COVID-19 disease is usually considered to have a low mortality rate.

Up to 70% more deadly

The conclusion that the UK variant of COVID (or B.1.1.7) could be between 30% and 70% more deadly belongs to a new assessment recently released by British government scientists. The new study confirms the hunch of PM Boris Johnson, who declared that the strain could be “associated with a higher degree of mortality.” We wrote about Mr. Boris Johnson’s statements in a previous article.

However, there’s no used getting panicked just yet. The researchers involved in the new study admitted that more extensive studies conducted on deaths would be needed. But much deadlier or not, what’s for sure is that the UK variant of COVID spreads across the US in an accelerated rhythm.

One of the official statements of the new study was the following:

These findings show that B.1.1.7 will likely become the dominant variant in many US states by March 2021, leading to further surges of COVID-19 in the country, unless urgent mitigation efforts are immediately implemented.

The new study also shows that the UK variant of COVID is spreading somewhere between 35% to 45% faster than how other strains are unfolding in the US.

If we look at the worldwide situation of the COVID-19 pandemic, we find out that there’s a total reported number of over 109 million infections and more than 2.4 million deaths.


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Anna is an avid blogger with an educational background in medicine and mental health. She is a generalist with many other interests including nutrition, women's health, astronomy and photography. In her free time from work and writing, Anna enjoys nature walks, reading, and listening to jazz and classical music.

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