As reported by Reuters, "South Korea said last week that dozens of patients who had been cleared of COVID-19 and were being prepared for discharge tested positive. Jeong Eun-Kyeong, director of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) has said rather than being reinfected, patients may be suffering from a “reactivated” Coronavirus".
As a result of this, the officials are looking into reports that the Coronavirus (COVID-19) is "reactivating" in some patients who were thought to have recovered, causing them to test positive for a second time.
Jeong Eun-Kyeong said, “While we are putting more weight on reactivation as the possible cause, we are conducting a comprehensive study on this. There have been many cases when a patient during treatment will test negative one day and positive another.”
The other health experts note the probability of testing errors and releasing patients from hospitals too early as more likely to be the cause of recovered patients testing positive again.
On Monday World Health Organization officials stated not all people who recover from the Coronavirus have the antibodies to fight a second infection, raising concern that patients may not develop immunity after surviving COVID-19.
More than 300,000 of the 1.87 million Coronavirus cases across the world have recovered, WHO officials recorded, adding that they need more data from recovered patients to understand their antibody response, whether that gives them immunity and for how long.
Speaking with The Hill WHO said, “We are aware of these reports of individuals who have tested negative for COVID-19 using PCR (polymerase chain reaction) testing and then after some days testing positive again".
WHO further said, “We are closely liaising with our clinical experts and working hard to get more information on those individual cases. It is important to make sure that when samples are collected for testing on suspected patients, procedures are followed properly".
There is some research underway in China that could help answer some of the questions. This is a key issue in how we’ll be able to fight this virus in the future and how long it will continue to be a threat.