Sub-variants of Covid-19, named BA.4 and BA.4, are the latest threat to Brits’ health. The Omicron wave has seen numerous people infected with the virus for a second, or perhaps more, time.
Data from the Office for National Statistics suggests the arrival of Omicron prompted a 15-fold increase in the rate of reinfections. For the week ending June 11, around 1.4 million people in the UK had the coronavirus, an increase of approximately half a million from the week before.
With tests no longer provided for free by the NHS, many people are likely to be unknowingly carrying the virus while going about their daily business. For those that do test positive, guidance is in place, although isolation is no longer law.
Read more: Could free Covid tests return amid soaring cases and NHS burden worries?
What to do if you test positive for Covid?
Currently, the NHS advises anyone in Scotland who test positive to try and stay at home for five days after the day of the test. This period of time has continued to be reduced as experts discover more and more about the implications of spreading the virus.
The guidance is to avoid contact with other people during this time. Advice differs for other parts of the UK, with links to those respective rules on the NHS website.
How many times can you catch Covid?
No precise number on how many times someone can be infected with Covid is known. Reinfection is more likely than ever at the moment, due to the virus having evolved to evade immune defences such as antibodies created by previous infections or from the vaccines.
Although people who are fully up-to-date with their vaccine status are not immune to being infected, evidence still suggests that a milder form of the disease should be expected. How many times someone gets re-infected will likely differ from person to person, as the strength of immune responses vary.
Public Health England’s analysis, from mid-May, showed that those more likely to be infected again include people who are unvaccinated, younger or had a mild or asymptomatic infection with a lower viral load.
How long do Covid antibodies last?
Again, there is no definitive answer. Although the general trend suggests that reinfection can occur after merely a matter of months.
However, it is hoped that reinfection will cause less severe symptoms due to higher levels of immunity - via previous bouts with the virus and various vaccinations. People who had to combat more severe infections tend to develop a more robust immune response to the virus, although even that will wane over time.
Will reinfections increase the risk of long Covid?
Evidence surrounding this area is limited. Scientists suggest that it is unlikely multiple infections could increase risk of long Covid, although they admit that the knowledge is simply not there yet.
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