How much more contagious could the coronavirus get?

The coronavirus is evolving to become more transmissible, and eventually it could even overtake measles, the most contagious virus we know of



Health



26 January 2022

Corona virus, illustration.

An illustration of SARS-CoV-2

Gerd Altmann/Pixabay

Over the past two years, we have witnessed evolution in action, with new variants of the coronavirus becoming increasingly contagious. But where will it end? Is there a ceiling that viruses reach where they can’t become any more contagious?

Viruses tend to become more contagious over time because natural selection favours mutations that increase their ability to spread, says Julian Druce at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity in Melbourne, Australia, who is a member of the World Health Organization’s Technical Advisory …