People have a higher chance of Covid-19 reinfection from Omicron than they do with Delta, according to a fresh report from Imperial College London.
Using UKHSA and NHS data from PCR tests of confirmed cases in England — with no history of recent international travel —between November 29 and December 11, the college's Covid response team also said current vaccines aren't as effective against Omicron as they are for earlier variants.
They estimated the risk of Covid-19 reinfection with Omicron is 5.4 times greater than that of Delta.
This means any remaining protection from a past infection could be as low as 19 per cent, the team said.
For vaccines, they said there was "very limited remaining protection against symptomatic infection" from two AstraZeneca doses and "low protection" from two Pfizer doses.
However, a booster of an mRNA vaccine could provide moderate to high protection from symptomatic infection, in the 55 to 80 per cent.
"We find no evidence (for both risk of hospitalisation attendance and symptom status) of Omicron having different severity from Delta, though data on hospitalisations are still very limited," the team also noted.
A briefing by the UKHSA has also noted how Omicron gives rise to a secondary household case more than Delta and that its secondary attack rate is also higher.
SHARE ME