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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
World
Lottie Gibbons

Can you get covid twice within 90 days? Latest data on reinfection

Huge numbers of people in the UK every day are still testing positive for coronavirus.

COVID-19 is spread through close contact with people who have the virus.

People with the virus can spread it even if they do not have symptoms.

READ MORE: Latest travel rules for UK holidaymakers as major changes come into force today

But it's important to note you can still catch or spread it even if you're fully vaccinated or have had the virus before.

According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) reinfection is where a person was infected, recovered, and then later became infected again.

After recovering from COVID-19, most individuals will have some protection from repeat infections.

However, reinfections do occur after COVID-19.

Last year, the Department of Health & Social Care published a report stating it is possible to be reinfected within 90 days, but the chances are very low.

They added that if someone had tested positive for coronavirus again in a 90-day period, it is likely the test is returning a false-positive result.

The report said: "The clinical view is that during this 90-day window from a positive test, given the low rate of reinfection during this window, it is significantly more likely that a positive LFD test would be a false result, rather than someone being re-infected, causing people to isolate unnecessarily."

The CDC said available evidence shows that fully vaccinated individuals and those previously infected with SARS-CoV-2 each have a low risk of subsequent infection for at least six months.

But they added that data is presently insufficient to determine an antibody titer threshold that indicates when an individual is protected from infection.

Public Health England scientists working on a separate study in 2021 concluded naturally acquired immunity as a result of past infections provide 83% protection against reinfection, compared to people who have not had the disease before.

They said this appears to last at least for five months from first becoming sick.

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