UK’s dominant Kent Covid variant is up to TWICE as deadly as older versions of the virus, study claims
- Study led by Exeter University said the variant appears to be 64% more lethal
- It suggests risk of death after infection may increase from 1 in 400 to 1 in 250
- Downing Street warned in January this might happen but had little evidence
The Kent coronavirus variant is more deadly than original strains of the virus, another study has claimed.
Researchers analysed the lethality of the highly transmissible strain which is now the dominant type circulating in the UK and found it was worse than earlier variants.
Data from around 55,000 infected Brits revealed the variant, scientifically known as B117, was likely around 64 per cent deadlier and potentially as high as double.
Experts said this would equate to the virus killing around 0.41 per cent of everyone it infected in the general public — or one in 250 people.
For comparison, the original Covid strain had a lethality rate of around 0.25 per cent, British experts concluded.
The research, carried out by academics at the universities of Exeter, Bristol, Warwick and Lancaster, was published in the British Medical Journal.
It comes after No10’s top scientific advisers spooked the nation in January when they warned the variant, which first emerged in Kent in September, was up to 30 per cent deadlier than older versions.
Boris Johnson, Sir Patrick Vallance and Professor Chris Whitty told a Downing Street press conference that hospital data suggested the variant could increase the risk of death for a man his 60s from 1 per cent to 1.3 per cent.
But confusion mounted following the claims, with a senior Public Health England boss playing down the fears and insisted it was not ‘absolutely clear’ if it was any deadlier.
The data used to present the findings to the public contained 10 different studies sent to SAGE, with the lethality estimates varied vastly and one study even found the strain was less deadly than the older version.
The new study bolsters the claims, with experts saying the findings mean relaxing lockdown too soon would be a ‘reckless gamble’.