Evidence omicron is generating natural immunity.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/covid-19-variants-identified-in-the-uk-latest-updates
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1093275/covid-technical-briefing-44-22-july-2022.pdf
Sequenced, 10 July 2022 to 17 July 2022
BA.2 3.4% (0.6% to 8.6%)
BA.4 17.2% (12.8%)
BA.5 78.7% (77.9%)
Others 0.7%
Newly designated variant, BA.2.75
Identified as part of horizon scanning on 4 July 2022
BA.2.75 is a sub-lineage of BA.2
8 additional mutations from BA.2
24 cases with BA.2.75 in the UK
It has also been identified in multiple other countries in low numbers.
Protection of SARS-CoV-2 natural infection against reinfection with the Omicron BA.4 or BA.5 subvariants
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.07.11.22277448v1
All Qatar’s COVID-19 cases since start of BA.4 / BA.5 wave
Study estimates the effectiveness of previous infection in preventing reinfection with Omicron BA.4/BA.5
S-gene target failure proxy for BA.4/BA.5 infections
Effectiveness of a previous pre-Omicron infection against symptomatic BA.4/BA.5 reinfection
15.1% against symptomatic reinfection
28.3% against any BA.4/BA.5 reinfection
Effectiveness of a previous Omicron infection against symptomatic BA.4/BA.5 reinfection
76.1% against symptomatic reinfection
79.7% against any BA.4/BA.5 reinfection
Prior Omicron infection protects against BA.4 and BA.5
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01950-2?utm_source=Nature+Briefing&utm_campaign=d266f4379d-briefing-dy-20220722&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c9dfd39373-d266f4379d-44762053
Alex Sigal, virologist, Africa Health Research Institute, Durban
The time that has passed since your original infection is much shorter with Omicron, so it’s really not a fair comparison
UK Health Security Agency 15% of people in England have never had Covid
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/22/why-do-the-minority-who-havent-had-covid-account-for-most-new-infections
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/datasets/coronaviruscovid19infectionsurveydata
About 15% of people in England have never had Covid
this minority group still accounts for 55% of infections
45% of cases are now reinfections
the lowest it has been since the start of the pandemic,
UKHSA estimated more than 10 million people had still never been infected
First-time infections
More likely to be symptomatic
Fewer subsequent infections identified
Many people are being reinfected but not noticing
So % of reinfections may actually be more than 45%
NZ
Population 5.1 million
https://www.health.govt.nz
https://www.health.govt.nz/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-data-and-statistics/covid-19-case-demographics
Deaths official coded as due to covid = 874
Covid coded as contributing to a death = 475