B.1.1.7 Variant Wonât Cause More Severe COVID: Study
The Lancet Infectious Diseases on Monday.
Among a group of COVID-19 patients hospitalized in Britain, there appeared to be no difference in the risks of severe disease, death or other outcomes in patients with B.1.1.7 as compared to other variants.
âOur data, within the context and limitations of a real-world study, provide initial reassurance that severity in hospitalized patients with B.1.1.7 is not markedly different from severity in those without,â the researchers wrote.
The research team analyzed a group of 496 COVID-19 patients who were admitted to British hospitals in November and December 2020, including 198 patients with the B.1.1.7 variant. Among those, 72 patients had severe disease, and 53 of 141 patients with a different variant had severe disease. In addition, 31 patients with B.1.1.7 died, and 24 patients in the non-B.1.1.7 group died. Those who had severe disease or died were older and more likely
The UK variant of coronavirus is likely deadlier and more infectious than the original strain
A virologist breaks down everything you need to know about the UK variant. PTI
New research published this week in the
British Medical Journalfound the coronavirus variant originating in the United Kingdom, called B.1.1.7, is substantially more deadly than the original strain of SARS-CoV-2.
The authors say the B.1.1.7 variant is between 32% and 104% deadlier. However, it is important to recognise these data were only collected from one group of people so more research is needed to see if these numbers hold true in other groups of patients.
The restricted emergency use approval of Covaxin should now be revised
Vaccine efficacy of 80.6% for Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin at the first interim analysis of phase-3 trials in India is indeed promising, though it took two months for the data to become available after the vaccine was approved for ‘restricted emergency use’ by the Indian drug regulator. The vaccine efficacy was measured based on symptomatic COVID-19 disease mild, moderate or severe two weeks after the second dose. The interim analysis undertaken at the first endpoint of 43 COVID-19 cases in the phase-3 trial carried out across 26 sites in India found 36 cases in the placebo group while only seven COVID-19 cases in the arm that received two doses of the vaccine given 28 days apart. The phase-3 trial that began last November recruited 25,800 participants, with one half receiving the vaccine and the other, a placebo. While the phase-3 trial will continue till 130 participants in both groups put together devel