B117 is the new variant of Covid-19 that could possibly be more deadlier than the earlier one, British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson said on Friday, January 22.
PM Johnson at a press conference said, "In addition to spreading more quickly, it also now appears that there is some evidence that the new variant identified in London and the South East may be associated with a higher degree of mortality."
Chief Scientific Adviser of government in UK, Patrick Vallance cautioned that earlier findings portray that the new variant could be potentially 30% more dangerous than the original coronavirus.
"These data are currently uncertain and we don't have a very good estimate of the precise nature or indeed whether it is an overall increase, but it looks like it is," Vallance added.
New Restrictions
Johnson said as the variant of the virus is more deadly, more curbs are expected in UK. Earlier the PM was censured for easing restrictions. He is of the view that people would have to live with the virus in one or the other way for a long while.
New Variant- B117
B117, a new variant of the virus detected in London and south eastern England in the later phase of last year. After the new variant was detected, researchers had pointed out that the new variant could be more contagious. Officials and experts in UK are of the view that the roll out of vaccines against Covid-19 could potentially be effective on the new variants.
Chief Scientific Adviser of UK, Vallance said that
scientists were more concerned about the variant detected in Brazil and South
Africa as it could be more dangerous.
Read More: Oxford scientists preparing vaccine to nip Covid-19 variants