An English study published Wednesday in the "British Medical Journal" advances the thesis according to which the English variant of Covid-19 is 64% more lethal than the classic strain.

For specialists, "it makes it even more important that people get vaccinated" against the virus.

The English variant of the coronavirus is not only more contagious but also 64% more deadly than the classic coronavirus, according to an English study published on Wednesday, which confirms initial observations made at the end of January.

For 1,000 cases detected, the English variant causes 4.1 deaths, against 2.5 for the classic coronavirus, conclude the authors of this work published in the medical journal

BMJ

.

"There is a high probability that the risk of death is increased by an infection" with the English variant, write these researchers from the universities of Exeter and Bristol.

To date, this variant concerns around two thirds of contaminations in France. 

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At the end of January, NERVTAG, the group that advises the British government on respiratory viruses, said there was a "realistic possibility" that infection with this variant was associated with a higher risk of death.

This group estimated that the lethality of the variant (risk of death among infected people) could be 30 to 40% higher, based on a few studies, including the one published by the

BMJ

in its final form. 

Data from 110,000 people

Its authors were based on data from 110,000 people who tested positive outside the hospital between October and January, which they followed for 28 days.

Half had been infected with the classic coronavirus, the other with the English variant (called VOC 202012/01 or B.1.1.7, from the name of its "lineage", that is to say its genetic family).

The researchers compared the mortality in one and the other of the two groups (141 deaths versus 227), taking into account certain factors such as age, sex or ethnicity, and estimated that the English variant was 64% more fatal.

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The fact that the participants were tested out of hospital may be a bias since it tends to select lower risk cases.

But if these findings can be generalized to the entire population, the English variant "has the potential to cause significant additional mortality" compared to the classic virus, say the researchers.

"It makes it even more important that people get vaccinated," said a scientist who was not involved in the study, Simon Clarke (University of Reading), quoted by the British organization Science Media Center.