British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned that the new Covid-19 strain identified in UK could be more lethal than the original one. While having a news conference he said, “We’ve been informed today that in addition to spreading more quickly, it also now appears that there is some evidence that the new variant — the variant that was first discovered in London and the southeast (of England) — may be associated with a higher degree of mortality”.
Clearing his message, he added that the evidence is still in its primary stage and is being assessed by the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group. Talking about the vaccine efficacy he said that the prior results shows that the vaccine from Pfizer-BioTech and AstraZeneca-Oxford University, which are currently in use in the UK are proved to be effective against the mutated variant too.
The UK variant known as B.1.1.7, is having unusually high number of mutations and is already linked to rapid transmission capabilities. Initially discovered in September, the variant has reached 44 different nations worldwide. Also last week the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned that the variant could emerge as the predominant variant till March 2021.