The results of a new study on the British variant of the coronavirus indicate that it is more deadly than other forms of the Sars-Cov-2 virus.
The risk of death is 32% to 104% higher after infection with the British variant, according to data published Wednesday in the general medical journal British Medical Journal (BMJ).
The scientists compared the number of deaths among nearly 55,000 people infected with the UK variant to those among a similar sample of patients infected with an older form of the virus.
In the UK variant group, 227 people died of the disease 28 days after testing positive. In the other group, the number of deaths in the same period was 141.
The question of the danger of the new variants of the coronavirus has occupied experts for several months, as some - but not all - analyses indicate an increased risk of mortality linked to these mutants.
While the results of this new study point in the direction of an additional risk, other research such as that of the British University of Exeter emphasises that the vast majority of infected people survive the variant.
The study released on Wednesday found 4.1 deaths per 1,000 infections with the UK variant, compared to 2.5 deaths per 1,000 with other older variants.
The Brussels Times
