Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned that the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) variant first identified in the United Kingdom (UK) may be more deadly than the original virus.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports PM Johnson sounded the warning at a Downing Street news conference on Friday.
The Prime Minister, however, stated that all evidence available shows that current COVID-19 vaccines are effective against it.
“There is some evidence that the new variant may be associated with a higher degree of mortality.
“All current evidence continues to show that the current vaccines remain effective against the old coronavirus variant and this new one,” Johnson said.
Meanwhile, explaining the mortality, Sir Patrick Vallance, the chief scientific adviser to the UK government said with the initial variant, out of a 1,000 people, over 60 infected with it, 10 would die.
With the UK variant, the available data suggests that 13 or 14 people out of 1,000 from the same age group would be expected to die, he added.
First identified in Kent, the variant is thought to be more than 70% more transmissible.