Coronavirus has mutated into 10 types of killer disease across the world, a study has found.
Along with the first 'ancestral O type' of the new coronavirus that came from Wuhan in China - researchers found there were now 11 variations of the disease.
Some mutations of Covid-19 were found to be highly efficient in entering human lungs - with the A2a mutation even more adept in infecting than the SARS-CoV that killed 800 and infected 8,000 people a decade ago.
According to Partha Majumder, an author of the study by the National Institute of Biomedical Genomics in Kalyani, India, the A2a mutation has overtaken the original has the most dominant.
Majumder said: "The coronavirus can be classified into many types - O, A2, A2a, A3, B, B1 and so on. Currently, there are 11 types, including type O which is the ‘ancestral type’ that originated in Wuhan."
"Such mutant viruses increase the frequency of transmission and sometimes completely replace the original type of the virus.
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"The SARS-Cov2 is doing just that".
The study is vital in the development of effective vaccines to fight Covid-19, reports the Times of India.
But while scientists across the world battle to find a vaccine, experts claim coronavirus is unlikely to be eradicated and may return each year like seasonal flu.
The Chinese experts' predictions echo what the UK's chief medical officer, professor Chris Whitty chillingly warned last week.
Professor Whitty said the country is unlikely to return to normal, until a vaccine can be found, as it has for the flu.
The Chinese viral and medical researchers told reporters in Beijing that the virus is not likely to disappear like SARS, because it can infect carriers who have no idea they have symptoms and are passing on silently to others.
The researchers said Chinese health officials are still confirming dozens of asymptomatic carriers every day.
Jin Qi, director of the Institute of Pathogen Biology at the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, said: "This is very likely to be an epidemic that co-exists with humans for a long time, becomes seasonal and is sustained within human bodies."
The Chinese experts added they have found no evidence that the virus’ spread will slow during the summer as they could never reach the temperature need to wipe it out.
Wang Guiqiang, head of the infectious diseases department of Peking University First Hospital, said: "The virus is heat sensitive, but that’s when it’s exposed to 56 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes and the weather is never going to get that hot.
"So globally, even during the summer, the chance of cases going down significantly is small.”
Last week professor Whitty warned the restrictions could remain in the UK for the rest of the year, while a vaccine is found, tested and rolled out.
"In the long run, the exit from this is going to be one of two things, ideally. A vaccine, and there are a variety of ways they can be deployed... or, and or, highly effective drugs so that people stop dying of this disease even if they catch it, or which can prevent this disease in vulnerable people.
"Until we have those, and the probability of having those any time in the next calendar year are incredibly small and I think we should be realistic about that.
"We're going to have to rely on other social measures, which of course are very socially disruptive as everyone is finding at the moment.
"But until that point, that is what we will have to do but it will be the best combination that maximises the outlooks but it's going to take a long time and I think we need to be aware of that."
