(Image: PA)“There are certainly anecdotal reports of explosive outbreaks with that virus and very steep increases in case numbers. “We’re confident it is spreading faster than other virus variants” due to a “biological advantage”, he added - though he’s still not fully sure why. Prof Horby said scientists are still investigating exactly why the new variant is spreading more quickly. Prof Ferguson gave more detail on scientists' belief that children are more likely to catch the new variant than the old variant. But he added: "You see a statistically significant increased proportion of cases in under-15-year-olds for the variant compared to the non variant.

Source: Daily Mirror December 23, 2020 12:19 UTC