‘Delta variant is more likely to reinfect’

Data suggests the Delta variant of Covid-19 may be 46% more likely to cause reinfection than the Alpha variant first identified in Kent.

Research from Public Health England shows that, while the overall chances of getting reinfected are very low, the Delta variant – first identified in India and which accounts for 99% of cases in the UK – poses a higher risk.

From June 21 to July 19, some 1,788 people were admitted to hospital after testing positive for Delta. Of these, 970 (54%) were unvaccinated, while 530 (30%) had both doses.

In total, 3,692 people have so far been admitted to hospital with the Delta variant, of whom 2,152 (58%) were unvaccinated and 843 (23%) were fully vaccinated.

From February to mid-July, among the under-50s who had received both vaccines just four patients died with the Delta variant out of 15,346 cases in this group (0.02%). There have been 34 deaths among the unvaccinated in the same age group, among 119,063 Delta cases (0.02%).

Meanwhile, among over-50s who received both vaccinations there were 220 deaths out of 13,427 cases (1.64%).

And there have been 131 deaths among the unvaccinated over-50s among 2,337 cases (5.6%).

On the topic of reinfections, PHE experts looked at the PCR test results for a group, both vaccinated and unvaccinated, who had a positive test at least 90 days earlier.

There were 83,197 people who tested positive in the 11-week period of the analysis, of whom 980 (1.2%) had possible reinfections.

Overall, the team found the chance of reinfection with the Delta variant was 46% higher compared to the Alpha variant.