A new saliva test based will be able to work out whether a person is likely to get severe Covid, say scientists.
People’s genetics are examined in the test which also considers age, weight, sex and overal health.
The £130 test is considered to be a valuable tool in the fight against Covid especially in regions where there are fewer vaccines available and also to help identify those most at risk.
Scientists made a report on the test in medRxiv, an internet site distributing unpublished emprints about health sciences, and is operated by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
It has now been published in the journal Epidemiology and Infection.
Genes that raise people’s risks of getting severe Covid are considered as well as people suffering from medical conditions that could have an impact like respiratory disorders.
Experts believe that the test has an accuracy of 73% in determining whether a person will be badly affected by Covid.
An advantage of the test is also that it is easy to carry out with a person only required to spit into a tube and then the sample is sent to a laboratory.
The study stated that: "An accurate test to predict risk of severe COVID-19 can inform prioritization of vaccine doses to those most at risk and will be useful in regions in which vaccination is not widespread enough to provide herd immunity - either through unavailability or vaccine hesitancy - if available vaccines are not effective against variants of SARS-CoV-2, or if available vaccines are not indicated for some people.
"On an individual level, knowledge of personal risk can empower people to make informed choices about their day-to-day activities, including targeted social distancing in the workplace or other crowded places."
It stated that a future point of research will be in why some people have had only minor symptoms originally but have suffered chronic disease
The tests are currently available to order in the US and are believed to be "coming soon" to the UK.
