An estimated 1.7 billion people — more than 20 per cent of the world's population — risk becoming severely infected with Covid-19 due to underlying health problems such as obesity and heart disease, analysis has shown.

A team of experts from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine analysed global data sets of illnesses including diabetes, lung disease and HIV and used these to estimate how many people are at heightened risk of serious Covid-19 infection.

They found that one in five people have at least one underlying health problem putting them in greater danger.

While not all of those would go on to develop severe symptoms if infected, the researchers said around 4pc of the global population — around 350 million would likely get sick enough to require hospital treatment.

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