People infected with Kent coronavirus variant are MORE likely to get symptoms than those who catch older strains, ONS report reveals – but they are less likely to lose smell and taste
- People infected with the Kent coronavirus variant are more likely to get symptoms than those with older strain
- Figures showed that 19 per cent of those who tested positive with UK variant had a loss of smell and taste
- No 10 last week revealed there is some evidence the Kent strain could be more deadly than other versions
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People infected with the Kent coronavirus variant are more likely to get symptoms than those who have caught older strains but are less likely to lose their smell and taste, according to the Office for National Statistics.
Data from the ONS revealed today that 52.92 per cent of people in England who tested positive with the Kent variant of coronavirus developed all reported symptoms compatible with Covid-19 including cough, fatigue and fever.
The report added that 47.7 per cent of people who tested positive with other strains were less likely to experience the symptoms of Covid-19 including headache, sore throat and cough but did suffer a loss of smell and taste.
Figures showed that 18.92 per cent of those who tested positive with the UK variant had a loss of smell and taste in comparison to other strains which 22.37 per cent of people experiencing a change in these particular senses.
Number 10 was accused of scaremongering last Friday when Boris Johnson and his chief scientists announced the terrifying development that the Kent strain was more deadly without providing much supporting evidence.
The Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance admitted in a press conference last week that they thought the new Kent strain ‘transmits between 30 and 70 per cent more easily than the old variant’.
The Prime Minister told a Downing Street press conference last week: ‘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 identified in London and the South East, may be associated with a higher degree of mortality.’
Members of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag), a subcommittee of SAGE, compiled 10 different studies looking into the lethality of the new strain.
Eight found the variant was more deadly than previous strains, which led to the group concluding there was a ‘realistic possibility’.
But the findings from the studies varied wildly and had wide confidence intervals, which led to accusations that No10 was premature in announcing the development.
Chief Scientific adviser Sir Patrick even admitted during the press conference evidence the strain is more deadly is still ‘weak’.
Responding to those criticisms, Professor Edmunds said on Monday: ‘I think it’s pretty solid [the evidence] and if we had not said something about it, you’d be criticising the Government for not saying something about it and sweeping it under the carpet.’
Asked about what Kent strain’s increased deadliness means for lockdown, Professor Graham Medley, another SAGE member, said the new analysis was ‘concerning’ but doesn’t mean we need to do anything hugely different.
‘The situation is we’ve got about 100,000 infections a day and that is very serious. Additional mortality from new variant is concerning but it doesn’t change the effect of 100,000 [cases] ,that’s the main cause of the deaths.
‘If we want to reduce number of deaths we have to reduce incidence. Reduction of cases is the critical thing.’