Coronavirus Mutating to Become Less Vicious and Could Die Out Without Vaccine, Claims Expert

COVID-19 is beginning to lose its virulence as the coronavirus is mutating and could die out on its own without a vaccine, according to Prof Matteo Bassetti, an Italian infectious diseases specialist.

Prof Bassetti told The Telegraph that over the last month, COVID-19 was losing its virulence and patients who would have earlier died from the infection are now recovering. Prof Bassetti, an expert in critical care, pointed out to the declining trend in the number of cases that indicated a vaccine was no longer needed as the coronavirus could go away by itself permanently.

“The clinical impression I have is that the virus is changing in severity,” Prof Bassetti told The Telegraph. “In March and early April the patterns were completely different. People were coming to the emergency department with a very difficult to manage illness and they needed oxygen and ventilation, some developed pneumonia. Now, in the past four weeks, the picture has completely changed in terms of patterns. There could be a lower viral load in the respiratory tract, probably due to a genetic mutation in the virus which has not yet been demonstrated scientifically.”

Prof Bassetti believes that the reaction of the human immune system to the coronavirus is causing it to mutate and attributed the lower viral load to measures such as lockdown, mask-wearing and social distancing.

"Yes, probably it could go away completely without a vaccine. We have fewer and fewer people infected and it could end up with the virus dying out," he said.