COVID reinfection: What 'might' happen when you get infected twice, thrice or more?

COVID reinfection cases have been increasing and health experts say, the maximum number of such cases have been seen during the Omicron variant led COVID infection. This is the reason why more attention was given to study the immune evasive nature of the virus and how the vaccines are effective in neutralising them.

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COVID was first detected in the later parts of 2019 and by March 2020 it was declared a global health emergency. Countries were shut down to control the spread of the disease.

There is no straight answer to this. This means the reinfection can either be a mild one or a severe one than before. The degree of severity depends on how frequently you are getting reinfected, how soon you get reinfected, and how long it has been since you were vaccinated.

“By and large, it seems milder. But there’s no guarantee," Dr. Gabe Kelen, chair of emergency medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, tells CNBC.

Though not 100%, previous infection and vaccination can protect you to some extent.

If you have recently recovered from a COVID infection it is likely that your body will keep an eye on the future pathogens and will fight it off. This can wane the chances of severity associated with the infection, experts have said.

Omicron and its subvariants generally appear to cause less severe symptoms than previous Covid variants — which could partly be because Americans are more protected with vaccines and previous infections than ever before, Dr. Roy Gulick, chief of infectious diseases at Weill Cornell Medicine, told CNBC.

During the Omicron led COVID infection which was the third massive wave of infection, less severe cases were seen.

Health experts have backed the claim that Omicron causes mild symptoms but have always warned to remain safe and follow COVID protocols as there is always a doubt and uncertainty around how the virus reacts.

Though medically these are said to be mild, in comparison to the devastating second wave of COVID, the symptoms are not that mild and should be dealt with carefully.

Symptoms like sore throats, headaches, fatigue, coughs, nasal congestion and muscle aches are most commonly seen in infections caused by Omicron variants.

These symptoms can linger in an individual for days and weeks.

With claims around milder variants of COVID there are certain groups of people who are at risk of getting severe COVID.

People who are older, who are immunocompromised and those who have chronic underlying medical conditions are at higher risk of developing a severe condition due to COVID.

India's active COVID caseload stands at 32,282 cases now. 2,529 new cases were recorded in the last 24 hours with 1,22,057 tests conducted in the duration.

India’s cumulative COVID-19 vaccination coverage exceeds 218.84 crore. Over 4.10 Cr 1st dose vaccines have been administered for the age group 12-14 years, as per the data from the Union Ministry of Health.