UK VARIANT ISN’T LINKED TO MORE SEVERE DISEASE OR DEATH, STUDY

Tue 13 April 2021:

The new strain of coronavirus first identified in England is more infectious but not more dangerous than the original COVID-19, two new UK-based studies have found.

According to two new studies published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases and The Lancet Public Health journals.

The variant, known as B.1.1.7, was identified in Kent in the south-east of England last September and became widespread by the end of the year.

It has been associated with the massive spike in COVID-19 cases recorded in the UK in January and has now been detected in more than 100 other countries worldwide.

Researchers from the United Kingdom analyzed samples of COVID-19 patients and compared their symptoms among those infected with other strains, including the UK strain B.1.1.7.

“We found no excess mortality risk associated with B.1.1.7 compared with non-B.1.1.7 in unadjusted analyses,” the study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal on Monday read, adding that “We did not identify an association of the variant with severe disease in this hospitalised cohort.”

The researchers also did not find a link between the UK variant and the increase in COVID-19 reinfections.

Based on the results of the study, the scientists concluded that the existing coronavirus vaccines were effective against B.1.1.7.

In December 2020, the United Kingdom informed the World Health Organization of a mutated variant of SARS-CoV-2, which was reported to be up to 70 percent more transmissible than other coronavirus variants. Although the new variant has not been proven to be more pathogenic, many states shut their borders and suspended travel with the United Kingdom.