The number of people doubly infected increased with the Omicron wave, reveals a report from the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec (INSPQ).
Posted at 8:26 p.m.
For the week of December 26 to 1er January, 3,653 people were infected again, according to INSPQ figures. This number accounts for almost half of the double infections listed since the start of the pandemic. “But it’s a week where the number of cases has exploded”, nuance Gaston De Serres, chief physician of the immunization unit at the INSPQ.
Despite the Omicron wave which increases the risk of being infected again, this phenomenon remains marginal, according to Dr.r From Serres. “Before the arrival of Omicron, we were at almost 1% of infections which were reinfections, he explains. Now it has increased and we are talking about almost 30 reinfections per 1000 cases, which means about 3% of infections. According to him, the number of reinfections could however increase in 2022, since a large proportion of the population is affected by the virus.
Since November 28, none of the reinfected people have been admitted to intensive care or have died from COVID-19, according to the INSPQ report. Hospitalizations among people doubly infected during this wave amount to 26. “It is a proportion which is very very very low”, supports the Dr Gaston DeSerres. However, the vaccination status of these people is not known.
But until now, few studies exist about the risks of developing a serious disease by contracting the Omicron variant when one has been infected with COVID-19 before, underlines the Dr.r From Serres.