Kent variant twice as deadly – study

The Kent variant may be up to twice as deadly as previous strains of coronavirus, new research suggests.

The more infectious variant, B117, which swept across the UK at the end of last year before spreading across the world, is between 30% and 100% more deadly, according to a new study.

Epidemiologists from the universities of Exeter and Bristol said the data suggests the variant is associated with a significantly higher mortality rate among adults diagnosed in the community compared with previously circulating strains.

Robert Challen, from Exeter University, lead author of the study, said: “In the community, death from Covid-19 is still a rare event, but the B117 variant raises the risk.

“Coupled with its ability to spread rapidly, this makes B117 a threat that should be taken seriously.”

Researchers looked at death rates among people infected with the new variant and those infected with other strains.

They found that the variant first detected in Kent led to 227 deaths in a sample of 54,906 patients – compared with 141 among the same number of closely matched patients who had the previous strains.

The variant is more transmissible and is thought to have contributed towards the rapid increase in cases before new lockdown rules were introduced across the UK.

According to the study, published in the British Medical Journal, the higher transmissibility of the Kent strain meant that more people who would previously have been considered low risk were admitted to hospital with the newer variant.