The so-called UK variant of COVID-19 is up to twice as deadly as the regular variant, according to research published today in the British Medical Journal. That estimate is higher than those from previous studies into the variant of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus. In a sample of over 50,000 patients, the new variant—sometimes called the Kent variant—led to 227 deaths, compared to 141 in a matched sample of people who had the previous strains. “The highly infectious variant of COVID-19 discovered in Kent, which swept across the UK last year before spreading worldwide, is between 30 and 100 percent more deadly than previous strains, new analysis has shown,” reads a statement from the study authors. The lead author of the study, Robert Challen from the University of Exeter, said, “In the community, death from COVID-19 is still a rare event, but the …