According to a study published by the Public Health England, the new variant of Covid-19, which was sprouted in Britain, does not seem to cause more serious illness than the previous ones.

Susan Hopkins, a senior medical adviser to Public Health England, who carried out the research, stated that the study “suggests that the new variant does not cause more severe disease or increased mortality but we are continuing our investigations to understand this better.”

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For the study, the PHE researchers drew a comparison of 1,769 people infected with the new variant and 1,769 infected with the non-mutated strain of the virus

The researchers revealed that out of 1,769 people, 42 were admitted to the hospital, of whom 16 had the new variant and 26 the wild type. While 12 of the variant cases and 10 of the non-variant cases died within a month of testing.

The researchers found that neither the hospitalisation nor the mortality differences were statistically significant.

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The researchers reported only two cases of reinfection in the variant group at least 90 days after the first infection.

However, the PHE researchers maintained that the new variant is more contagious than other variants. They found that 15 per cent of individuals who were in contact with people infected with the new variant got infected with the variant themselves. While for the non-mutated strain, it remained comparatively low at 10 per cent.

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