"The new variant of Covid-19 is "hugely" more transmissible than the virus's previous version, a study has found.
It concludes the new variant increases the Reproduction or R number by between 0.4 and 0.7.
The UK's latest R number has been estimated at between 1.1 and 1.3. It needs to be below 1.0 for the number of cases to start falling.
Prof Axel Gandy of London's Imperial College said the differences between the viruses types was "quite extreme".
"There is a huge difference in how easily the variant virus spreads," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
The Imperial College study suggests transmission of the new variant tripled during England's November lockdown while the previous version was reduced by a third."
Covid-19: New variant '''raises R number by up to 0.7''' - BBC News
We are officially fooked now.
It concludes the new variant increases the Reproduction or R number by between 0.4 and 0.7.
The UK's latest R number has been estimated at between 1.1 and 1.3. It needs to be below 1.0 for the number of cases to start falling.
Prof Axel Gandy of London's Imperial College said the differences between the viruses types was "quite extreme".
"There is a huge difference in how easily the variant virus spreads," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
The Imperial College study suggests transmission of the new variant tripled during England's November lockdown while the previous version was reduced by a third."
Covid-19: New variant '''raises R number by up to 0.7''' - BBC News
We are officially fooked now.
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