Common gene in South Asians can double the risk of death due to COVID-19

A research carried out by scientists from the University of Oxford has discovered a gene that doubles the risk of lung failure and death from the deadly coronavirus. Scientists have claimed that around 60 per cent of people from South Asian backgrounds and 15 per cent of people from European ancestry carry the high-risk version of the gene.

Professor James Davies, a geneticist at Oxford University’s Radcliffe Department of Medicine and a senior author of the paper said, "The genetic factor we have found explains why some people get very seriously ill after coronavirus infection … There’s a single gene that confers quite a significant risk to people of south Asian background."

The risky version of the gene is present in about 2 per cent of people from African-Caribbean backgrounds and 1.8 per cent of people of East Asian descent.

The study relies on previous works that identifies a large chunk of DNA that shows how COVID-19 can cause people to be severely ill. 

Also read | Pfizer's experimental Covid pill reduces hospitalisations and deaths, company claims

Meanwhile, Pfizer recently claimed that their experimental pill against the deadly coronavirus can reduce the risk of hospitalisation and deaths in high-risk patients.

The pharmaceutical company has revealed that the interim analysis before the end of the trial has shown that there is an 89 per cent decline in risk of hospitalisations and COID-19 deaths. However, the data has not been peer reviewed yet.

Pfizer has been testing this pill in high-risk adult Covid patients. In these trials, some of the volunteers have been given the pill combination while others have been given a placebo, within three to five days of the start of their symptoms.