The British strain of coronavirus (B.1.1.7) does not increase mortality at all, moreover, it does not worsen the severity of the infection, but it spreads faster, The Lancet Infectouse Diseases reported referring to a new study.

The study authors followed 341 patients in two London clinics. The proportion of deaths among patients in both groups was comparable (16 and 17%), the severity of symptoms was approximately the same. An important difference between patients with the British strain turned out to be a high viral load: the number of viral particles in their blood samples.

Another study published in The Lancet Public Health confirms this information. Experts studied data from 37,000 infected patients who used the COVID Symptom Study app from late September to late December 2020. They found no link between the severity of symptoms and the number of patients with the British strain.

Also, the authors of the study did not find any statistically significant association between the number of patients with B.1.1.7 and the rate of reinfection. However, the reproduction index - the indicator by which scientists judge the rate of spread of a particular virus - is 1.35 times higher in the British strain.

Some experts note that the British strain is more dangerous already because it spreads faster: the more infected, the more patients with complications who need intensive care.