(Reuters) – British scientists said on Friday they had identified a gene in the human body that doubles the risk of dying due to COVID-19, providing new insight into how the illness affects patients and possibly help in developing specific treatments.
Around 60% of people with South Asian ancestry carry the high-risk genetic signal, researchers at Oxford University said, adding the discovery partly explains the high number of deaths seen in some British communities, and the affect of COVID-19 in the Indian subcontinent.
(Changes day to Friday from Thursday in paragraph 1)
(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)
