KEY POINTS
  • Preliminary reports from South Africa suggest people with prior Covid infection could be reinfected with a new, more infectious variant of the virus, the World Health Organization said.
  • Initial findings also show Covid vaccines may be less effective in protecting against new strains of the virus, but vaccination may reduce the severity of infection, WHO said.
  • Vaccination may also decrease the spread of new Covid variants, according to WHO.
A lab technician uses a single channel pipette dropper to test material during Covid-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test processing at a laboratory in the Dunkeld suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa, on Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021.

Preliminary reports from South Africa show people who have recovered from Covid-19 have been reinfected with a new, more contagious variant of the virus, World Health Organization officials said at a press briefing Friday.

The good news, however, is that the vaccines developed to guard against the virus appear to reduce the severity of illness in those who do develop Covid-19, even if it doesn't completely protect them from infection, said the WHO's chief scientist, Dr. Soumya Swaminathan.