Covid variants pose 'significantly' higher risk of hospital and ICU admission – ECDC

The South African and Brazilian variants had the highest hospital admission rates of between 19% and 20%, followed by the B117 variant at 11%, compared to a 7.5% admission rate in those infected with a Covid strain that was not of concern. File picture

The UK, South African and Brazilian variants of Covid-19 pose a “significantly higher” risk of hospitalisation and intensive care admission, a new study by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has found.

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC), National Virus Reference Laboratory, Irish Coronavirus Sequencing Consortium and All Ireland Infectious Diseases Cohort fed into the ECDC study, which reviewed more than 23,000 Covid-19 cases across Ireland, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Italy, Luxembourg and Portugal.