More than one million people are currently self-isolating as the Omicron Covid-19 variant outbreak causes UK cases to soar.
There have been reports that many of those in isolation have already had coronavirus in the past.
But can you catch the virus more than once, and do you still need to isolate if you have already had it?
Here is all you need to know about Covid-19 reinfections.
Can you get Covid more than once?
Yes, you can catch coronavirus more than once.
Labour leader Keir Starmer recently tested positive for the second time, after catching it once before in October.
There have also been reports of people contracting the virus more than twice.
This is because immunity against the virus wanes some time after catching it.
A recent study by Public Health England (PHE) found that most people who have had the virus are protected from catching it again for at least five months.
That means that they are then vulnerable to contract it again after this time.
Harvard Hospital’s Common Cold Unit in Wiltshire conducted a study that showed some patients could be re-infected within a year.
However, the second infection is thought to be milder than the first.
An Imperial College London report suggested that Omicron is more than five times more likely to cause reinfection than the Delta variant.
Do you still need to isolate if you have had Covid before?
Yes, you still need to follow isolation protocol if you test positive for Covid-19 or have symptoms, even if you have tested positive in the past and are double vaccinated.
The same rules apply because this is a new infection, and so you are once again contagious.
MORE : Covid isolation cut from 10 to seven days with negative test in Scotland
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