The person I listen to the most on Youtube for my Covid information is Dr. Campbell because he makes the information so easy to understand. In his latest video (Update - YouTube), he was saying that the new UK variant is not only more contagious but also is causing more symptoms (making people more sick). Yes, the virus is quite serious--it has overwhelmed many hospitals and IMO we are still learning about the long term affects and there could be further mutations (hopefully making it less virulent but it could also become even more dangerous--because the UK variant is more transmissible, it will likely eventually replace the older variant ). I hope your friend recovers completely.