Reinfections Up Since Delta Emerged

The latest data on the Delta variant indicates that recovered Covid patients are more vulnerable to reinfection by it than earlier strains of the virus.

According to Health Ministry figures quoted by Channel 13 on Thursday evening, 4,811 Israelis have been reinfected with coronavirus, amounting to 0.47 percent of the total recoveries.

That compares to just 0.08% of the reinfection cases recorded in 2020, while the number climbed to 0.71% in 2021 when the Delta variant became the dominant strain in Israel. In the past month, 2,702 recovered patients contracted the coronavirus again, or some 1.8%, the report says.

However, the cause of the higher reinfection rates remains unclear: whether it’s because the Delta variant is more contagious, or because people became more susceptible due to waning antibodies.

The majority of reinfections are among the young, according to the report.

The data cited refers to over 900,000 recovered Israelis, though the figure has since passed a million.