Professor John Edmunds appeared on Newsnight to discuss the variant of coronavirus that Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned could be more deadly than the original strain.
Prof Edmunds noted the increased transmission of the new strain is already “very serious”.
He added: “Even without an increase in mortality, this new variant is a very serious turn for the worst anyway.
“The evidence for its increase in transmissibility is overwhelming, and it really is significantly more transmissible and that in itself is really the biggest of the stories.
“We are struggling with this, and frankly we were struggling with the last strain to contain them, we are definitely struggling with this new variant whether it is more lethal or not.”
Opening his press briefing yesterday, the Prime Minister warned data suggested the newer strain could be more lethal.
Mr Johnson said: “We’ve been informed today that in addition to spreading more quickly, it also now appears that there is some evidence that the new variant, the variant that was first identified in London and the Southeast, may be associated with a higher degree of mortality.
“And I’m going to ask Patrick in a minute to say a bit more about that, because it’s largely the impact of this new variant that means the NHS is under such intense pressure with another 40,261 positive cases since yesterday.”
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Sir Patrick Vallance, Government Chief Scientific Adviser, did not confirm whether the new strain is more lethal, but suggested there is an “increased risk” from it.
He added: “When we look at data from hospitals, so patients who are in hospital with the virus, the outcomes for those with the original virus or the new variant look the same.
“So there’s no real evidence of an increase in mortality for those in hospital.
“However, when data are looked at, in terms of those who’ve been tested positive, so anyone who’s tested positive, there is evidence that there’s an increased risk for those who have the new variant compared to the old virus.”
Yesterday the UK recorded 40,261 cases and 1,401 deaths within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test.
In total, the UK has reported 3,543,646 cases and 94,580 deaths.
NHS data shows 5,100,475 doses of coronavirus vaccines have been given to people in England, with 4,661,293 being the first dose.
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