Catching up: Why are those who dodged the virus for so long now getting it?

Having somehow dodged Covid so far, those who have never seen the two red lines appear on a rapid test have become a shrinking minority. Last week, the White House announced that the US president, Joe Biden, tested positive for Covid, becoming the most high-profile figure yet to join the increasingly exclusive club of people who are only now, in the third year of rife disease, notching up their first infection.

- Ian Sample

Figures from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) are striking. About 15% of people in England have never had Covid. But in the current wave, driven by the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of Omicron, this minority accounts for 55% of infections.

Viral spread

The haves and have-nots

15% Portion of population in England yet to contract Covid

55% Portion of those in the current wave in England for whom it is a first infection

45% Portion of cases in England that are reinfections, close to the highest-ever rate

In a textbook scenario, the proportion of first-timers who get infected should drop as Covid eventually infiltrates every niche of society. Ultimately, the only people unexposed will be babies and young children. Not that we will reach this point soon. Going into the latest wave in England, the UKHSA estimated more than 10 million people had never been infected.