Saturday, November 2

The new variant of coronavirus affects more people under 20 years of age and is 50 percent more infectious, warn English scientists

When at the end of last year the United Kingdom announced the presence of a variation of SARS-CoV-2 among its population, the country began to limit the transit of people and intensified confinement measures; In addition, alerts have been lit around the world. To date, the mutation identified as Variant of Concern (VOC) or Variant in Research (VUI) 202012 / 01 has been found in the United States, Australia, Denmark and Italy , among other countries.

English scientists have warned that the new variant of coronavirus affects more to those under 20 years and is 50 percent more infectious , thus representing “important challenges for the continuous control of COVID – 19 in the UK and elsewhere in the coming months. Social distancing measures should be stricter ”, they recommend.

According to research by Imperial College London (ICL), VOC 202012 / 01 presents a transmissibility of 0.4 to 0.7 points higher in the reproduction number (R0) compared to the original coronavirus, which represents a “multiplicative increase that ranged between a 50 and a 75 percent advantage ”.

The World Health Organization recognizes preliminary reports that assume an estimated increase of between the 40 and the 70 percent in transmissibility, although “ there is not enough information to determine if this variant is associated with any change in the severity of the disease at the clinical level , in the antibody response or in the efficacy of the vaccine. ”

ICL researchers also point out“ a small but statistically significant change towards children under 20 years that are most affected by this variant ”, in whom they found an increase in susceptibility and more apparent symptoms .

The experts assure that their findings have been communicated to the British government and other countries , and that the investigation continues with a particular focus on any changes related to the severity of the disease and its transmissibility.