People with blood group ‘A’ may be more prone to the new coronavirus (COVID-19) infection while those with blood type ‘O’ have a lower risk of contracting the deadly virus, a first-of-its-kind study claimed last week. Medical researchers in China took blood group patterns of more than 2,000 patients infected with the virus in Wuhan and Shenzhen and compared them to local healthy populations. They found that blood type A patients showed a higher rate of infection and they tended to develop more severe symptoms. In those with the virus, type A was 38 percent, type B was 26 percent, type AB was 10 percent, and type O was 25 percent. The researchers concluded that “blood group A had a significantly higher risk for COVID-19 compared with non-A blood groups. Whereas blood group O had a significantly lower risk for the infectious disease compared with non-A blood groups.” The report has some experts worried that people with type A blood might panic or worry and that people with type O blood might let their guard down or get too complacent. “These results can’t be used to lessen the serious precautions that everyone needs to take, regardless of their blood type,” said Dr. Mary Cushman, MSc, a hematologist and professor at the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont. Experts say research shows many diseases have been linked to blood types. “We found that type AB is related to stroke risk and in general, to cognitive impairment risk. Although not all studies have observed that,” Cushman said. “Type O, compared to other types, also protects against heart attacks and blood clots in the veins, known as venous thrombosis,” she added. “We don’t know the mechanisms yet, but we know there are differences by blood type in certain clotting factors and factors in the circulation that relate to blood vessel lining cell connections,” Cushman said. According to a recent study, in the case of 72,000 Chinese coronavirus patients, the overall fatality rate was 2.3 per cent but in the case of adults over 80, the same rate rose to 15 per cent. Doctors believe that the novel coronavirus has “equal potential to penetrate and spread”, irrespective of the gender, although various data show that more men are infected by the virus than women. However, if you are type O does not mean you are absolutely safe, so follow all safetly guidelines issued by the local authorities.