New UK Covid variant death risk put into context by Sir Patrick Vallance

There is evidence to suggest the new variant of Covid-19 may be linked to a higher mortality rate, according to UK chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance.

Putting the data into context, he explained that for men in their 60s, the expected number of deaths had been about 10 in every 1,000 for the original virus. With the new variant, that number increases to 13 or 14 in every 1,000.

But Sir Patrick stressed there was "a lot of uncertainty around these numbers".