Corona ... the British strain is "more deadly" and the Health Organization is collecting 40 million vaccines for the poor

While global interest in studying new strains of the emerging corona virus and their impact on prolonging the pandemic is increasing, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that the new version rampant in his country may be more deadly, according to some evidence.

Speaking at a Downing Street press conference today, Friday, Johnson said, "We were informed today that in addition to its spread at a faster rate, it now also appears that there is some evidence that the new mutated version of the virus that was first detected in London and southeast England may be associated with a higher rate." Of deaths. "

He added that the impact of the new strain "has put the National Health Services Authority under severe pressure after recording 40,261 new cases of the virus since yesterday, and 38,562 Corona patients have entered hospital, which is 70% more than the number of the first stage of the peak of the virus outbreak."

The British Prime Minister believed that the number of deaths due to the pandemic will increase and that the closure measures will last for a long time, but he stressed that the current vaccines are still effective against the virus and its mutated versions.

30% stronger

For his part, chief government scientist Patrick Vallance said that the new version may be about 30% more deadly, but stressed the limited data available in this regard.

He added that for the 60-year-old group of men, it is usually expected that about 10 out of every thousand infected with the original version of the virus will die, but this number rises to 13 or 14 for the new version.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization announced Friday that it had reached an agreement with the US company Pfizer to obtain 40 million doses of its Corona vaccine (Covid-19).

The organization said that obtaining vaccine doses allows it to start vaccination next month in poor countries and low-income countries within the "Kovacs" program, which seeks to ensure a fair distribution of vaccines among the countries of the world.

Albert Burla, president of Pfizer, said during a press conference with the World Health Organization that the 95% effective vaccine doses would be sold at "cost".

For his part, WHO President Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the return of the United States to join the vaccination sharing program and deal with Pfizer brings the organization closer to fulfilling its obligations.