Covid: Professor urges people to ‘remain cautious’ in case of evolutionary mutations

As well as discussing the potential of COVID-19 to find itself down an evolutionary dead-end, Kinane explained the role of an individual’s genetic profile in their reaction to the virus.

Professor Kinane said: “Any microbial and viral infection will affect people differently and this is due to the massive genetic variation amongst humans that through the centuries have provided us protection.

“Without this genetic variability we would have all succumbed to the Spanish flu, yellow fever, or the bubonic plague.”

It is for this reason, alongside other factors, some people react differently to the virus than others.