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22 Jan 2021

British strain of Covid-19 may be more deadly, says UK government

There is some evidence the new variant of Covid-19 that emerged in the south of England before Christmas is more deadly, the Prime Minister said today.

This was just a day after he reassured us it was not.

Speaking at a press conference earlier, Boris Johnson said the number of Covid patients in hospital was now nearly 80 per cent higher than in the first peak in April.

The latest 24-hour figures show a further 1,401 people have died, bringing the official UK total to 95,981.

There have been 40,261 new cases, but there is better news on vaccinations – another 409,855 people received their first dose yesterday. So now almost 5.4 million people have received their first jab.