Scientists pour scorn on claim new strain may be 30pc more deadly

SENIOR scientists have dismissed claims that the new variant of coronavirus is more deadly than previous strains.

Boris Johnson stunned audiences watching the No10 press briefing on Friday night by saying: `It now appears that there is some evidence that the new variant may be associated with a higher degree of mortality.’

Chief scientific officer Sir Patrick Vallance added that it could kill up to 30 per cent more of those it infected.

But influential scientists, including Public Health England (PHE) medical director Dr Yvonne Doyle, said yesterday such fears were premature.

Emphasising that it was not `absolutely clear’ that the Kent strain – named B117 – had a higher mortality rate, she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: `It is too early to say. There is some evidence, but it is very early evidence.’

She said the indication that it might be more deadly was based on `small numbers of cases’.

The 30 per cent figure came from the Government’s New

‘Some evidence but it is too early to say’

and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats (Nervtag) committee, which analysed modelling from three universities and PHE.

Nervtag itself admitted there was uncertainty, describing higher mortality only as a `realistic probability’.

Another Government adviser, Dr Mike Tildesley, said he was `quite surprised’ by the announcement and recommended waiting `a week or two more... before we draw really strong conclusions’.

Meanwhile, a call by the British Medical Association to halve the delay between the two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to six weeks was slapped down by Dr Doyle.

The BMA had written what was described as a private letter to Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty in which it argued that it was `difficult to justify’ the 12-week interval due to concerns a single jab might offer only limited protection.

But Dr Doyle backed the approach, designed to maximise the number of vulnerable people getting their first jab sooner.