Increased mortality in community-tested cases of SARS-CoV-2 lineage B.1.1.7.

ABSTRACT: SARS-CoV-2 lineage B.1.1.7, a variant that was first detected in the UK in September 2020¹, has spread to multiple countries worldwide. Several studies have established that B.1.1.7 is more transmissible than pre-existing variants, but have not identified whether it leads to any change in disease severity². Here we analyse a dataset that links 2,245,263 positive SARS-CoV-2 community tests and 17,452 deaths associated with COVID-19 in England from 1 November 2020 to 14 February 2021. For 1,146,534 (51%) of these tests, the presence or absence of B.1.1.7 can be identified because mutations in this lineage prevent PCR amplification of the spike (S) gene target (known as S gene target failure (SGTF)¹). On the basis of 4,945 deaths with known SGTF status, we est

SUBMITTER: Davies NG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9170116 | biostudies-literature | 2021 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature