From Pandemic Plague to Seasonal Sniffle: How Viruses Mutate into Milder Strains To Survive

The advent of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 prompted a new wave of pandemic panic around the world, with many countries closing their borders and re-imposing lockdowns. But as the less-harmful nature of the new strain becomes more apparent, scientific knowledge of how other deadly viruses mutated into everyday illnesses has been borne out.

Omicron has been the Greek letter on the world’s lips for the last month as the new COVID-19 variant spread rapidly from southern Africa to all other inhabi...