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Update (March 10): One of the studies included in the NERVTAG report has been published in The BMJ today with expanded data. The researchers compared more than 100,000 people who tested positive for either B.1.1.7 or other SARS-CoV-2 variants, and found that B.1.1.7 was associated with a 32–104 percent increased risk of death within 28 days.
The B.1.1.7 variant of SARS-CoV-2, which was first found in September and is now dominant in the UK and present in many other countries, is thought to be more easily transmitted than other variants are. It might also be more deadly. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced at a news conference on Friday (January 22) that new data indicate B.1.1.7 may be 30 percent more fatal.
The evidence comes from two analyses reviewed by a government committee called the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats, or NERVTAG. Patrick Vallance, ...
