New Delhi December 25 : The new strain of the coronavirus that was discovered in the UK seems to be more contagious and is expected to cause more deaths and hospitalisations in 2021, said a study by the Centre for Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. It claimed that the variant is 56% more transmissible than other strains.
The new study also stated that the measures adopted by the UK like country-wide lockdown in November were unlikely to reduce the reproduction number of the virus to less than one unless they closed the schools and universities too.
Reproduction number refers to the new infections estimated to stem from a single case.
Moreover, the study suggested that the vaccination may need to be accelerated to combat the spread of the new COVID strain.
Earlier, the UK government had asserted that the new variant of coronavirus appeared to be 70 per cent more transmissible than the other identified strains of the virus.
The new variant of coronavirus is “beating all the others in transmission”, said Patrick Vallance, the UK Government’s chief scientific adviser. He had warned the new variant, which is said to be the cause for a rapid rise in infections, was becoming the dominant strain.
“Without action the evidence suggests that infections would soar, hospitals would become overwhelmed and many thousands more would lose their lives,” a news portal quoted him as saying.