Faster-spreading COVID-19 strain affects young people the most ─Research

*Researchers say the new Coronavirus variant that originally emerged in the UK is more transmissible and appears to affect a higher proportion of people under 20

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

Following the discovery of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) strain in certain countries of the world, including the United Kingdom (UK), Nigeria, South Africa, and lately the United States (US), the research conducted at a time when there were lockdowns but schools remained opened has shown that it is possible the new variant appears to infect mostly the young generation.

It was gathered that the new Coronavirus variant that originally 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 science groups.

Report says the mutation of concern has “a substantial transmission advantage” and is linked to “epidemic growth in nearly all areas,” the scientists wrote. It can raise the virus’s reproduction rate, which indicates how many people one patient infects, by as much as 0.7, the researchers found.

Neil Ferguson, a professor at Imperial College London, who has worked on modelling the outbreak, said:

“This will make control more difficult and further accentuates the urgency of rolling out vaccination as quickly as possible.”

According to researchers, physical distancing measures that worked against earlier strains of the virus were insufficient to control the spread of the new variant.

The government had previously said the new strain was as much as 70 percent more transmissible than other versions, without providing documentation.

The experts applied statistical tools to evaluate the link between transmission and frequency of the new variant across the UK.

The data have informed the government’s pandemic planning in recent weeks, Ferguson said.

The scientists stated that it is possible the new variant appears to infect the young the most because the research was conducted at a time when there were lockdowns but schools remained opened.