Respected medics have urged caution over claims by a senior Italian doctor that the new coronavirus is losing its potency and has become much less lethal.
The World Health Organisation has stressed that the new coronavirus has not suddenly become any less dangerous, and the Italian Government has urged caution.
Those feelings were backed up on Tuesday by GMB Dr Hilary Jones who warned people that "if we relax our view of the virus, we are in big trouble".
He explained to viewers that is is too early to think the virus is less of a threat.
The British doctor was speaking out after comments made by Alberto Zangrillo, the head of the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan in the northern region of Lombardy, which has borne the brunt of Italy’s coronavirus contagion.
Mr Zangrillo said: “In reality, the virus clinically no longer exists in Italy.
"The swabs that were performed over the last 10 days showed a viral load in quantitative terms that was absolutely infinitesimal compared to the ones carried out a month or two months ago."
Italy has the third highest death toll in the world from Covid-19, with 33,415 people dying since the outbreak started there in February.
However new infections and fatalities have fallen steadily in May and the country is unwinding some of the most rigid lockdown restrictions introduced anywhere on the continent.
Zangrillo said some experts were too alarmist about the prospect of a second wave of infections and politicians needed to take into account the new reality.
The World Health Organisation's Michael Ryan, an expert epidemiologist, spelled out the dangers in believing that the virus is becoming less potent.
"New viruses in human populations can do one of two things: they can evolve and become less pathogenic, or sometimes they can become even more pathogenic," he explained.
Ryan said it was not in the interests of the virus to kill everyone it infected because it could survive better if it can keep transmitting between people.
"We need to be careful: this is still a killer virus," he said.
"We need to be exceptionally careful not to create a sense that, all of a sudden, the virus, by its own volition, has now decided to be less pathogenic. That is not the case at all."
Backing him up, Dr Hilary said: "There is no scientific evidence to support the claims from the doctor in Milan. He thinks, anecdotally, that the viral swab tests that they are doing show that there is a reduced viral load - less viruses found in people's bodies.
"Therefore, he is suggesting that the virus has become weaker and less of a threat. However, other scientists are saying there is no evidence of genetic mutation making this virus weaker and anecdotal reports are not reliable.
"If we relax our view of the virus, we are in for trouble. I think it is wishful thinking.
"This virus hasn't shown any signs of genetic mutation. If it does, it is very rare and it is not likely to have an effect internationally, in any one country, or globally. The virus has been behaving exactly as it has been doing all the way through, and this anecdotal report from Milan, at the moment, doesn't have enough legs to make it stand."
