More than 100 South Koreans who fully recovered from COVID-19 have tested positive again, said officials in a Monday update.
Jeong Eun-Kyeong, the head of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the virus may have reactivated after staying dormant in the patients instead of those patients having been reinfected with COVID-19.
Prime Minister Chung Sye-Kyun said the government is aiming to lift some of the country’s stay-at-home regulations, which are in effect until April 19.
World Health Organization (WHO) officials said Monday that not all people who have recovered from the virus have developed antibodies to fight off a second infection, raising fears that they will not gain immunity after surviving COVID-19.
Ryan noted that it’s not clear whether the virus can reactivate after a CCP virus patient recovers and tests negative.
“There are many reasons why we might see reactivation of infection either with the same infection or another infectious agent,” he said, adding that there have been “many situations in viral infection where someone doesn’t clear the virus entirely from their system.”
“I think what is very, very unlikely is that these people are being reinfected by other people,” said Clements. “There’s plenty of evidence to suggest that there is quite a strong immune response to infection with coronavirus, and that should protect people from infection for a period of time. What’s not currently known is for how long.”