Evidence omicron is generating natural immunity.

https://www.gov.uk/government/....news/covid-19-varian

https://assets.publishing.serv....ice.gov.uk/governmen

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/conten....t/10.1101/2022.07.11

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/wo....rld/2022/jul/22/why-

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplep....opulationandcommunit

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