The UK has chosen a dangerous path out of the coronavirus pandemic

DURING the coronavirus pandemic, we have all become amateur epidemiologists, readily discussing R numbers, herd immunity and test sensitivity in everyday conversation. Now, with the virus still nowhere near eliminated, we would do well to concern ourselves with the principles of viral evolution too.

It is a widespread misconception that viruses tend to evolve to become less deadly. To really grasp what a virus is likely to do, we must look at the opportunities it has to evolve and the selection pressures that could force it to change.

In these respects, the UK has stumbled into a dangerous realm. …