A 90-year-old woman who died after falling ill with Covid-19 was infected with both the UK and South African variants at the same time, scientists in Belgium have revealed.
The woman, who lived alone and received at-home nursing care, had not received the vaccine and was admitted to the OLV Hospital in the Belgian city of Aalst - around 17 miles from Brussels - after a spate of falls in March. She tested positive for Covid-19 the same day.
While her oxygen levels were initially good, her condition deteriorated rapidly and she died five days later.
A 90-year-old woman admitted to OLV Hospital in the Belgian city of Aalst was found to have been positive for both the alpha (UK) and beta (South African) strains of Covid-19
When medical staff tested for the presence of any variants of concern they found that she was carrying both the Alpha strain, which originated in Britain, and the Beta variant first detected in South Africa.
Researchers believe it is the first documented case of its kind and are warning, although rare, dual infections can occur.
Covid-19 infections are currently on the rise in Belgium, with 1,027 new infections reported on average each day, although the death rate is waning, with latest figures showing just two reported deaths in the last few days.
There have been 1,093,700 infections and 25,198 coronavirus-related deaths reported in the country since the pandemic began.
Around 51.5 per cent of the population are thought to have been vaccinated so far.
Molecular biologist Anne Vankeerberghen from the OLV Hospital who led the research, said: 'Both these variants were circulating in Belgium at the time, so it is likely that the lady was co-infected with different viruses from
