You can transmit Covid even if you are immune

Anew study led by Public Health England (PHE) gives early warning that some people with existing Covid immunity can still carry high levels of the virus and could theoretically transmit it.

Susan Hopkins, senior medical adviser at PHE and co-leader of the study has highlighted this possibility.

“We found people with very high amounts of virus in their nose and throat swabs that would easily be in the range which would cause levels of transmission to other individuals.”

Hopkins stressed the need for people who had previously caught Covid-19 and recovered to obey social distancing rules, wear masks and observe hygiene to avoid transmitting the disease. On this basis, a relaxation of lockdown would be a long time coming.

However, another report, known as the Siren study, is more optimistic. Dr Simon Clarke, Associate Professor in Cellular Microbiology at the University of Reading, says, “The Siren study has major implications for how we can get out of the current crisis.

“The good news is that this study gives further weight that reinfection of Covid is rare, at least at this stage, and that having antibodies will provide protection for a meaningful amount of time, although it may not be lifelong immunity.”

He also give us an idea of what the conditions should be for release of lockdown. “The concerning finding is that some people who have Covid antibodies ( from an infection) appear to still be able to carry the coronavirus and could spread it to others. This means that the vast majority of the population will either need to have natural immunity or have been immunised for us to fully lift restrictions on our lives,” he said.

Lawrence Young, Virologist and Professor of Molecular Oncology at Warwick Medical School added that because the results cover the months before the new variant took hold, “it will be important to determine whether previous infection with the old virus variant is able to offer protection from re-infection with the new virus variant”.

Recent reports suggest not all vaccines will be equally effective the latest variants, but we must keep a sense of perspective. Professor Sarah Gilbert, a pioneer of the Oxford-astrazeneca vaccine, states that they may have a reduction in efficacy against mild to moderate disease and may not reduce the total number of Covid cases.

We must remember, she says, they’ll still offer protection against severe disease, hospitalisation and death.

‘‘ Some people who have antibodies appear to still carry the virus

Key worker Shirley Reeve, from Hemel Hempstead, Herts, has been working all the way through lockdown – and this beautiful dawn sky was her reward for getting up so early at the weekend.

The 59-year-old says: “Pictures can make us feel happy or sad. I took this from my bedroom window when I got up early on Sunday morning and thought how beautiful it was – the colours were amazing.

“I like to take photos of almost anything, mainly on my phone, but I hope to get my first decent camera soon.”

If you are an amateur photographer or artist and you would like your work to hang in our gallery, please send your work and include your age and address and tell us what inspires you.

Dear Coleen

My husband had an affair with a mutual friend a couple of years ago. At the time, I was shocked and very hurt – I cried night after night – but I still loved him and was desperate to try to make our marriage work.

He ended things with the other woman and neither of us has any contact with her any more. Oddly, things were OK at first, in fact, everything was better, including sex. It was like we’d just met and couldn’t get enough of each other. I was so happy we had another shot.

I was convinced I’d be able to forgive and move on because I really wanted it, but now, two years down the line, I find myself getting irrationally angry over quite trivial things and I know it’s because I’m resentful about his affair. But instead of confronting it I get angry about the fact he hasn’t taken the bins out or he’s forgotten to fill the car up with petrol.

I don’t know why it’s more of a problem now than it was when I first discovered the affair, and I don’t know what to do about it. I’m starting to worry that it’s just not possible to get over his betrayal.

I’d love your opinion.

Coleen says

I know exactly what you mean – I felt the same after discovering an affair and things were great initially. I was so happy we were “back together” and probably subconsciously trying to prove that we could be happy sexually. Then down the line, I began thinking about the affair more and find he’d irritate me a lot.

So, I think that while you might have dealt with things in a physical sense, you didn’t deal with the emotional fallout. I think you’d benefit from counselling, so you can express how you feel. You could do this on your own, then he can join in the sessions.

Break-ups and affairs remind me a lot of grief – you go through similar stages of working through the trauma. For example, the first year after losing my mum I almost felt happy because she wasn’t suffering and the trauma was over, but it hit me in year two when I remembered how she used to be instead of those last years of her life.

If you haven’t dealt with the emotional scars, that’s what you need to deal with now.

It will be painful, but it could also help repair your marriage in a more fundamental and lasting way.

Two years on I get angry over quite trivial things

SECRET SAFARI: INTO THE WILD Channel 4, 8pm EAGLE-EYED safari rangers are on the hunt for one of the 13,000 wild animals roaming around the breathtaking Kenyan Conservancy Ol Pejeta.

But it’s especially tricky when this particular animal can run at speeds of up to 740 miles an hour.

Teenage ostrich Cedric is the youngest of just eight resident ostriches remaining from a flock that once numbered more than 80.

Now that he’s old enough, the rangers are hoping he might be key to boosting the ostrich population.

Ranger Mercy says: “Cedric is definitely a good-looking ostrich. Long black wings, beautiful white plumes at the end, long pink neck.”

This is all very well, but so far his advances have been rebuffed.

So he decides to try it on with an older woman, Koki. But will she be keen?

Elsewhere in this episode, narrated by Andrew Scott, there are more tales of life, death and love in the wild.

Lioness, pride leader and single mum Sior faces a tough choice as she is forced to leave her cubs to hunt for food.

But a herd of buffalo arrives as soon as she’s out of sight.

And one-armed baboon Oscar, injured after a brutal fight for dominance, attempts to ingratiate himself with a new troop after being rejected by his own.

Ranger Steve says: “I feel sorry for Oscar.

“It’s very risky being a lone baboon out on the plains.”

As ever, there are some shocking scenes of nature at its cruellest, but this stunning series delivers stories that are worth watching.

FAST FOOD Lionesses must leave cubs alone to hunt for their food