People who have recovered from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) but later tested positive for the same virus again cannot infect other people, Guo Yanhong, a representative of China's National Health Commission, said on Friday
BEIJING (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th February, 2020) People who have recovered from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) but later tested positive for the same virus again cannot infect other people, Guo Yanhong, a representative of China's National Health Commission, said on Friday.
"We pay close attention to this situation [of cured patients testing COVID-19 positive again] and have already organized a special group of experts to study this issue, while we are strengthening continuous monitoring of these disease cases. The study has established that these patients cannot infect other people," Guo said at a press conference.
She added that given that COVID-19 is a new disease, discharged patients should be closely monitored.
"The number of recovered people is constantly increasing, and in order to find out in a timely manner about the rehabilitation process and the situation with patients who were discharged from hospitals, we issued a special document on February 17 ordering us to monitor and carry out sanitary control of discharged patients everywhere," Guo stated.
Earlier this week, Song Tie, deputy director of the Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that repeated coronavirus patients develop antibodies preventing the virus from being contagious. While young patients may form such antibodies in about two weeks, the same process may take a longer time for some elderly people.
According to the latest data, on a global scale, over 83,300 people have contracted COVID-19, resulting in more than 2,850 deaths. However, the most recent figures indicate that over a third of the people who contracted the disease have since recovered.
