Patrick Vallance told a news conference that “there is evidence that there is an increased risk for those who have the new option.”
He said that for a 60-year-old man with the original version of the virus, “the average risk is that for every 1,000 people who become infected, about 10 are expected to die unfortunately.”
“With the new variant, for every 1,000 infected people, one would expect about 13 or 14 people to die,” he said.
VIDEO: Dr. Fauci on COVID-19 variants worldwide
But Vallance stressed that “the evidence is not yet strong” and that more research is needed.
Contrary to this uncertainty, he said, there is growing confidence that the variant is more easily transmitted than the original coronavirus strain. He said it appears to be 30% and 70% more transmissible.
Maria Van Kerkhove, the World Health Organization’s technical leader on COVID-19, said studies are underway to analyze the transmission and severity of new virus variants.
She has said so far that “they have not seen an increase in severity”, but that greater transmission could lead to “an overloaded health care system” and thus more deaths.
British officials say they are confident that vaccines that have been authorized for use against COVID-19 will be effective against the new strain identified in the country.
But Vallance said scientists are concerned that variants identified in Brazil and South Africa could be more resistant to vaccines, adding that more research is needed.
Concerns about the newly identified variants have triggered a number of new travel restrictions around the world. Many countries have closed their borders to travel from the UK, and the UK has stopped flights from Brazil and South Africa.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said there could be additional restrictions.
“We may have to go further to protect our borders,” he said.
The United Kingdom recorded 95,981 deaths among people who tested positive for coronavirus, the highest confirmed total in Europe.
The UK is currently in a deadlock trying to slow the latest outbreak of the coronavirus outbreak. Bars, restaurants, entertainment venues and many shops are closed, and people have to stay mostly at home.
The number of new infections has begun to decline, but deaths remain agonizingly high, averaging more than 1,000 a day, and the number of hospitalized patients is 80% higher than at the peak of the spring pandemic.
Johnson, who was often accused of making overly optimistic predictions about easing coronavirus restrictions, seemed grim.
“We will have to live with coronavirus in one way or another for a long time,” he said, adding that “it is an open question” when measures could be eased.
“At this stage you have to be very, very careful,” he said.
Vallance agreed,
“I don’t think this virus is going anywhere,” he said. “He’ll probably be around forever.”
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AP medical writer Maria Cheng contributed to this story.
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