Looked at people over the age of 60. An average of 10 out of 1,000 people in this age group died, it now appears that 13 out of every 1,000 people. This high mortality rate adds to the high infection rate of the variant.

Vaccines work

It is not known what the explanation is. These preliminary conclusions are based only on the number of infections and the number of deaths.

At the press conference, it was again reported that the available vaccines also appear to be effective against the British boom. This is not yet certain for the other now known mutations. The South African and Brazil varieties appear to be no more contagious.

Much more than infection

In the fall, a new mutation of the Coronavirus was discovered in the British capital, London. In December, the alarm was triggered when it became apparent that this variant was more contagious and may already be in place in several countries. Many countries closed their borders with Great Britain just before Christmas, but the alternative was already in place in many countries, including the Netherlands.

Fear of the British alternative is the main reason for tightening measures in the Netherlands. For example, the British numbers were cited, which, despite the strict lockdown established earlier, did not want to roll back for a long time.

The British variant is expected to be the dominant version of the Coronavirus in the Netherlands within a few months. This is indeed the case in large parts of Great Britain.