A Spanish healthcare worker is claimed to have recorded the shortest gap between two Covid-19 infections since the pandemic began.

In less than three weeks, a 31-year-old health worker tested positive for two different infections.

She was first infected with the Delta strain in December 2021, before being quarantined, and 20 days later she tested positive for Omicron.

The triple-jabbed woman was asymptomatic throughout the first round of infection, but became ill the second time.

The example illustrates that even vaccinated individuals who have had coronavirus “cannot assume they are protected against reinfection,” according to the researchers.

The patient became infected 12 days after getting her Covid booster immunization.

She was not ill when the initial result was discovered through standard healthcare testing.

She was placed in isolation for ten days, but symptoms began to appear shortly after she returned to work in January.

The nurse experienced a cough, fever, and overall malaise, and was startled to receive a positive result.

She had been infected with many variants, according to lab tests.

Her case is thought to be the shortest known gap between illnesses, according to the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases in Portugal.

Dr Gemma Recio, one of the study’s authors, said: “This case highlights the potential of the Omicron variant to evade the previous immunity acquired either from a natural infection with other variants or from vaccines.

“In other words, people who have had Covid-19 cannot assume they are protected against reinfection, even if they have been fully vaccinated.

“Nevertheless, both previous infection with other variants and vaccination do seem to partially protect against severe disease and hospitalisation in those with Omicron.”

She continued: “This case also underscores the need to carry out genomic surveillance of viruses in infections in those who are fully vaccinated and in reinfections.

“Such monitoring will help detect variants with the ability to partially evade the immune response.”

Despite its genetic sequencing being lauded around the world, countries around the world have withdrawn several of their testing and mask restrictions, and no longer forces travelers to test on arrival.

Free universal testing has also been dropped.

According to experts, the risk of reinfection is 10 times higher with the Omicron variant compared with the Delta variant.

Omicron is now the dominant variant in most of the world.

Some 6.2 million people are now believed to have died with Covid-19 worldwide – more than 100,000 of which were in Spain – according to John Hopkins University’s tracker.

More than 500 million have been infected, including 11.6 million in Spain, the University says.

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