On Friday, the prime minister informed Britons that there was “some evidence” to suggest that the new, mutated strain of SARS-Cov-2 identified in southern England in December 2020 is not only more contagious, but “may be associated with a higher degree of mortality.”
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has sought to clarify Prime Minister Johnson’s remarks on the so-called “British” strain of the new coronavirus, saying its dangerous nature appears to be associated with the pressure it puts on medical resources due to its transmissibility, and not the nature of the pathogen itself.
“From the data we’ve seen, [scientists] haven’t seen an increase in severity,” Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO epidemiologist and COVID-19 technical lead said, speaking at a WHO press conference on Friday.
Kerkhove said that the WHO was studying the transmissibility and deadliness of new coronavirus strains reported in the UK and elsewhere, and stressed that so far, researchers “haven’t seen an increase in severity.”
Michael Ryan, WHO Health Emergencies Programme executive director, echoed his colleague’s sentiments, saying that “there’s a big difference between the lethality of the virus” and mortality resulting from more people being infected.
FILE PHOTO: A worker serves a beer at The Holland Tringham Wetherspoons pub after it reopened following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in London, Britain July 4, 2020
Deadlier Strain?
At his Friday press conference, PM Johnson warned that the “British” Covid strain’s transmissibility and mortality had left the National Health Service under “intense pressure,” and that over 40,000 new cases of the virus had been recorded in the past 24 hours alone.
Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific advisor, told reporters that there was “evidence that there is an increased risk for those who have the new variant,” citing figures suggesting that the mortality rate among 60-year-old males rises from about one death per 1,000 infections with the original strain to about 1.3 or 1.4 per 1,000 with the new one.
Vallance clarified, however, that the “evidence is not yet strong” to back up these figures, and that more research is needed.
The scientist also said the government believes the new strain is about 30-70 percent more transmissible than the original.
Previously, researchers at Denmark’s State Serum Institute appeared to challenge previous claims on the transmissibility of the “British” coronavirus strain, concluding that the new strain was about 36 percent more contagious than the common one, and not 74 percent, as previously suggested by British scientists in an earlier study.
Mutations’ Impact on Vaccine Efficacy?
At the WHO press conference, WHO virologist and vaccines director Katherine O’Brien said it was “too early” to say whether any of the vaccines developed to stop the original coronavirus strain will be as effective against the mutated strains.
Britain has reported over 3.54 million cases of COVID-19, and some 94,500 deaths associated with complications with the respiratory disease. Globally, 96.2 million cases and 2 million deaths have been reported to date. In many countries, the health crisis caused by the virus has also sparked an economic crisis, with lockdowns, travel restrictions, unemployment and other factors leading to an increased risk of mental problems, drug and alcohol abuse, and other maladies.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
