Rats are more likely to pick up a COVID-19 variant but the risk of humans catching the virus from the rodents remains low, according to new scientific research in the UK.

A government study has been looking into the possible threat that rats could infect humans with coronavirus or develop a new variant that could be immune to vaccinations.

A report presented to the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) showed there was little chance for COVID-19 to be passed on from humans to rats through the environment and wastewater – albeit with little certainty over the conclusion.

But for the N501Y spike protein mutation found in several variants, there was a high possibility that a rat could become infected and spread it among other rats.

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It concluded that still there was a low chance a new variant developed by rats could spread to humans.

"There is a plausible pathway for infection of rodents with new variants of concern from infected humans following contamination of an environment," it said.

"Experimental evidence has shown SARS-CoV-2 with N501Y has increased affinity for lab rodents and there is nothing to suggest the same would not be true for wild rodents."

Looking at the likelihood of contracting the virus or a variant from contact with rodents, the report concluded it was "very low for the general public, and medium for [people] with occupational exposure."

The level of certainty over this was not very high and is due to conditions such as the immune status of the public and the effectiveness of vaccine roll-outs.

However, it is not normal for animal virus mutations to then spread to humans.

"If the 'wild type' virus became established in the rodent population, it would be expected to mutate to adapt to the rodent host and most mutations in animals are considered unlikely to lead to increased replication fitness in people," it said.

"The likelihood of a VOC (variant of concern) emerging as a result of adaptation in a rodent is low, and certainly lower than in the human population."