Coronavirus warning: Epidemiology expert warns new strain is more dominant in children

Express.co.uk – UPDATED: 14:44, Sat, Jan 2, 2021

Deepti Gurdasani, a senior lecturer in epidemiology at Queen Mary University of London, has tweeted about a new imperial report on the B117 strain. The findings suggest B117 coronavirus is most dominant in the 0-19 age group.

From Thursday, December 31, Gurdasani has been posting about the new imperial report.

Classed as “one of the most comprehensive evaluations of the impact and spread of the B117 variant,” the findings have caused alarm in the academic and scientific community.

The report combines epidemiological national evidence and genomic data from large numbers of samples across the UK.

Based on its findings, Gurdasani has tweeted that “the situation within the UK is likely to get much worse”.

Unless action is taken now, it’s feared the new, more contagious, B117 variant will spread throughout the UK.

Analysing data up to mid-December, the report demonstrates that the more transmissible disease “is higher for those in the 0-9 year and 10-19 year group”.

“This is concerning on many levels,” added Gurdasani. “It could mean children with the variant are more likely to develop symptoms.”

Moreover, virus transmission that begins in younger age groups “inevitably spread to older people”.

“Ultimately, [this] results in severe illness and death,” commented Gurdasani. “We’ve seen this pattern before.”

However, it must be noted that the dominance of the B117 variant in younger people doesn’t “necessarily mean increased biological susceptibility in children Vs adults”.

Gurdasani warned: “Although the UK pandemic is in a critical state now, there’s real potential for it to get a lot worse.”

SOURCE: https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/health/1378781/coronavirus-news-update-uk-b117-variant-transmissibility