In what could be the first case of double infection in India, a lady doctor in Assam contracted 2 different variants of Covid-19 simultaneously, Regional Medical Research Centre, Dibrugarh confirmed.
The lady doctor who had mild symptoms and recovered without hospitalisation was infected with the Alpha and the Delta variant of SARS Cov-2, according to the doctors. The fully vaccinated doctor caught the double infection in May
Dr Biswajyoti Borkakoty, the nodal officer for ICMR's regional centre explained that this happens when one person is already infected with one variant and contracts another one within 2-3 days of the first infection before the antibodies could develop.
A 90-year-old woman in Belgium who wasn't vaccinated was reportedly infected by 2 variants, Alpha and Beta in March 2021.