Covid-19: English variant won't lead to serious infections, new study says

London - Previous studies had shown it was linked to a higher likelihood of death

The English variant of the novel coronavirus does not increase the severity of Covid-19 compared to other strains, according to research published recently that also confirmed its increased transmissibility.

The variant, known as B117, is now the dominant viral strain across much of Europe, and previous studies had shown it was linked to a higher likelihood of death than normal variants.

But two studies published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases and The Lancet Public Health journals found no evidence that people with B117 experience worse symptoms or a greater risk of developing long Covid than those infected with different variants.

The research found however that the variant was associated with a higher viral load and reproduction rate than normal variants.

Authors of the first study looked at data from 341 patients who tested positive for Covid-19 late last year when B117 was running rampant across southeast England.

They found that 58 percent of those patients had B117, while 42 percent had non-B117 Covid-19.

Of those infected with B117, 36 percent became severely ill or died, compared with 38 percent of those with non-B117, suggesting that there was no association between B117 and heightened risk of severe infection.

Patients with the variant tended to be younger, and infections of B117 occurred more frequently in ethnic minority groups, the data showed.