BBC NEWS ONLINE: Coronavirus: What can the 'plague village' of Eyam teach us?

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heena Cruickshank, professor in biomedical Sciences at the University of Manchester, said: "Learning about our history with disease informs our future.

"We know the immune system combines with other factors - the strength and dose of the pathogen, the health of the individuals, relative isolation - to determine the severity of the epidemic.

"Some factors - living in proximity to animals and affecting animal habitats - still play a role today with diseases like Zika, SARS, and coronavirus being shown to originate in animals "

She added: "While many diagnostic details are missing, Eyam is a snapshot of how one community was shaped by - and itself shaped - the spread of a disease.

"And it is possible that survivors with more effective immunity led to part of the immune system of the survivors being selected for and handed down to following generations.

"As an example, some communities in Africa seem to have a higher incidence of a blood disorder - sickle cell anaemia - because it gave some protection against malaria.

"Reports have also shown that particular immune signatures were associated with more effective immune responses to plague and this can be tracked through generations."