Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert, whose work led to the development of the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 jab, was quoted as saying to a Royal Society of Medicine webinar by Evening Standard that the virus will weaken over time and “eventually” become like the others.

“We already live with four different human coronaviruses that we don’t really ever think about very much and eventually Sars-CoV-2 will become one of those,” she said.

“It’s just a question of how long it’s going to take to get there and what measures we’re going to have to take to manage it in the meantime," she said.

The virus, which is believed to have emerged from China, has now spread globally.