US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) scientists are coordinating with UK health officials to review data suggesting a new Covid-19 variant could be deadlier.
CDC officials are currently communicating with their counterparts to examine if the new Covid-19 variant found in the UK could be deadlier than the original strain. A CDC official said: "The CDC has reached out to UK officials and is reviewing their new mortality data associated with variant B.1.1.7."
UK Covid-19 variant
The Covid variant in UK known as B.1.1.7. was reportedly detected in September 2020. It features a high number of mutations and is considered highly transmissible.
New virus strain in the UK is mutating “at a much slower rate” than seasonal influenza, according to the World Health Organization.
“SARS-CoV-2 is mutating at a much slower rate than influenza,” WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said. “And so far, even though we’ve seen a number of changes and a number of mutations, none has made a significant impact on either the susceptibility of the virus to any of the currently used therapeutics, drugs, or the vaccines under development and one hopes that that will continue to be the case.”
WHO officials stressed that officials from the UK have announced the new variant could be up to 70% more transmissible than the original virus strain. Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s health emergencies program, explained it was uncertain if the increase in a spread in the UK is caused by the mutation or human behavior.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson says the new Covid-19 variant may be deadlier than previous strains.
Speaking about the new UK Covid-19 variant at a news conference, Prime Minister Johnson said: “We’ve been informed that in addition to spreading more quickly… there is some evidence that the new variant… may be more associated with a higher degree of mortality.”
However, he added: “Both the vaccines we’re currently using remain effective both against the old variant and this new variant.”
Studies have found Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine effective against Covid variant found in UK. A study published on preprint server bioRxiv revealed that “no biologically significant difference in neutralization activity” between the scientific tests on B.1.1.7 and the original strain of the virus.
Findings showed that all of the mutations linked to the new variant were neutralized by antibodies among 16 participants who had previously taken the vaccine. Half of the individuals were aged between 18 and 55 and the other half were aged between 56 and 85.
The researchers cautioned that the swift spread of Covid variants in different countries required “continuous monitoring of the significance of changes for maintained protection by currently authorized vaccines.”
Spreading in the US
While only 195 cases of the new variant have been discovered in the US so far, CDC modeling indicates that the UK variant could become the predominant variant in the country by March.
The CDC mentioned that cases of the variant have been detected in 22 states and public health officials believe many more cases are going undetected.
After reviewing the UK report and other data that has not been publicly released, Michael Osterholm, an epidemiologist and member of President Joe Biden's coronavirus transition team, said he is "convinced" that the new variant is deadlier.
Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, explained: "The data is mounting -- and some of it I can't share -- that clearly supports that B.1.1.7 is causing more severe illness and increased death. Already we know this variant has increased transmission, and so this is more very bad news."
