Risk of having Covid twice in 10 months is very low
Prior coronavirus infection appears to provide some protection against a second infection for almost a year
Updated
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The risk of being reinfected with Covid-19 is substantially reduced for up to 10 months after a first infection, a new study suggests.
Vanessa Chalmers, Digital Health Reporter
5:57 ET, Jun 4 2021
Updated: 6:37 ET, Jun 4 2021
PEOPLE who have already had Covid are protected from another infection for at least ten months, a study has shown.
The “really good news” means a previously infected person is very unlikely to suffer the disease twice in one year, researchers said.
Read our coronavirus live blogfor the latest updates
Safe for hugs? People who have previously had Covid are unlikely to get it again in a year
Given seven in ten people in England now have antibodies, and the vaccination programme is speeding ahead, it gives hope Covid cases will remain low.
4 June 2021 The risk of being infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, is substantially reduced for up to 10 months following a first infection, according to new findings from the Vivaldi study led by UCL researchers.
For the study, published in
Lancet Healthy Longevity, researchers looked at rates of Covid-19 infections between October and February among more than 2,000 care home residents and staff, comparing those who had evidence of a previous infection up to 10 months earlier, as determined by antibody testing, with those who had not been previously infected.
They found that residents with a previous infection were 85% less likely to be infected during this four-month period than residents who had never been infected, while staff with past infection were 60% less likely than staff who had not had the infection before.