Coronavirus: Scientists develop online calculator to predict risk of dying from COVID-19

British scientists have built a calculator that can predict a person’s risk of dying from coronavirus.

The online tool, created by researchers at University College London (UCL), predicts a one-year mortality rate based on factors such as age, sex and underlying illnesses.

It also takes into account the risks of the infection as well as indirect elements such as strain on the health service.

The calculator has been built as part of a wider study, which warns lifting the coronavirus lockdown too quickly could lead to anywhere between 37,000 and 73,000 excess deaths within a year.

The study, published in The Lancet journal, estimates there are about 8.4 million individuals who are extremely vulnerable to Covid-19 infection across the whole of the UK.

Author Professor Harry Hemmingway said keeping the infection rate down among the public is helping to keep these vulnerable people safe.

He explained doctors also “need to continue to deliver high quality medical care to vulnerable people to prevent excess deaths in those who are not infected with coronavirus”.

Researchers looked at data from 3.8 million health records for the study.

Based its conclusions on England having a 10 per cent infection rate and 20 per cent of people having a high-risk condition.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the loosening of lockdown restrictions on Monday - but faced backlash from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, who all said they would not be dropping the "Stay at Home"

The UK currently has the second-highest number of virus-caused deaths in the world after the United States - close to 40,500.

Another of the study's authors, UCL Professor Harry Hemingway, said that to keep vulnerable people safe during the pandemic, the infection rate must be kept down.