It is possible that the new variant seems to infect the young the most, because the study was conducted at a time when there were lockdowns but schools remained open.
Photographer: OLI SCARFF / AFP via Getty Images
Photographer: OLI SCARFF / AFP via Getty Images
The new coronavirus variant that emerged in the UK is more transmissible and appears to affect a higher proportion of people under 20, according to a report from Imperial College London and other scientific groups.
The worrying mutation has “significant transmission advantage” and is linked to “epidemic growth in almost all areas,” the scientists wrote. It can increase the reproduction rate of the virus, which indicates how many people a patient infects, by as much as 0.7, the researchers found.
“This will make control more difficult and accentuate the urgency of vaccination as soon as possible,” said Neil Ferguson, a professor at Imperial who has worked on modeling the outbreak.
Social distance measures that worked against previous virus strains were insufficient to control the spread of the new variant, the study found. The government had previously said the new strain was as much as 70% more transferable than other versions, without providing documentation.
The researchers used statistical tools to evaluate the link between transmission and frequency of the new variant in the UK. The data has briefed the government’s pandemic planning in recent weeks, Ferguson said.
It’s possible that the new variant seems to infect the young the most, because the research was conducted at a time when there were lockdowns, but schools remained open, the scientists said.