UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said there is evidence that the new, reportedly more contagious COVID-19 variant discovered late last year could be associated with a higher mortality rate. “We’ve been informed today that in addition to spreading more quickly, it also now appears that there is some evidence that the new variant—the variant that was first discovered in London and the southeast [in England]—may be associated with a higher degree of mortality,” he said in a news conference on Friday. The variant, he said, could be up to 30 percent more deadly than the original CCP virus, otherwise known as the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19. The new CCP virus strain, known as B.1.1.7, is believed to be more contagious and has been found in at least 10 U.S. states so far, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data. The variant of the virus was first …