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Concerned about COVID-19 re-infection? Study shows how long immunity lasts

The study carried out in a cohort of UK healthcare workers showed that cases of re-infection are likely to remain extremely rare.

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A study conducted in Britain showed that people who recovered from COVID-19 has immunity lasting for at least six months after the first infection. The results are based on the study of healthcare workers on the frontline of the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

"This is really good news because we can be confident that, at least in the short term, most people who get COVID-19 won’t get it again," said David Eyre, a professor at Oxford`s Nuffield Department of Population Health, who co-led the study.

It is to be noted that there have been reports of isolated cases of re-infection with COVID-19 which raised serious concerns among the people about immunity being short-lived, and patients contracting COVID-19 swiftly after the first infection.

However, the study carried out in a cohort of UK healthcare workers showed that cases of re-infection are likely to remain extremely rare.

During the study,  89 of 11,052 staff without antibodies developed a new infection with symptoms, while none of the 1,246 staff with antibodies developed a symptomatic infection.

The study, part of a major staff testing programme, covered a 30-week period between April and November 2020. Its results have not peer-reviewed by other scientists but were published before review on the MedRxiv website.

Staff with antibodies were also less likely to test positive for COVID-19 without symptoms, the researchers said, with 76 without antibodies testing positive, compared to only three with antibodies. Those three were all well and did not develop COVID-19 symptoms, they added.

(With Reuters inputs)

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