Letting Covid-19 circulate in hope of herd immunity ‘could make it more lethal’

Coronavirus, Health, Science, Vaccine

A deeply entrenched idea, that newly emerged agents of disease inevitably evolve to become more benign over time, is scientifically unfounded, according to new research.

They can, in fact, become more virulent depending on the conditions, and the easier it is for a virus to spread, the more likely it is to do so.

The findings suggest that failing to control outbreaks of Covid-19 – or even deliberately encouraging the circulation of the Sars-CoV-2 virus that causes it, as some lockdown sceptics have proposed – could increase the chance of more harmful forms of the virus emerging in the short term.

Guardian report

 

 

 

 

 

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

** This post was originally published on November 19, 2020 **