91 Recovered COVID-19 Patients Test Positive Again in South Korea

Published in Morocco World News on April 10, 2020:

In South Korea, 91 patients thought to have recovered from COVID-19 tested positive again on April 10, and health officials have yet to understand why.    

Jeong Eun-kyeong, the director of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), said that the virus may have been “reactivated” in recovered patients, rather than them being re-infected.     

Health officials in South Korea remain unclear as to why this is occurring and have launched epidemiological investigations to discover the reasons behind the trend. 

Many countries hope that their populations will develop immunity, which would keep a resurgence of COVID-19 from occurring. The thought of recovered patients being re-infected with COVID-19 is alarming and of great international concern.

The number of “reactivated” cases rose by 51 on April 6 but the figures are likely to increase in the coming weeks, according to Kim Woo-joo, professor of infectious diseases at Korea University Guro Hospital.

“The number will only increase, 91 is just the beginning now,” he said. 

According to some experts, the data concerning the “reactivation” trend could simply be a result of inaccurate COVID-19 tests.  

Another possibility is that remnants of COVID-19 remained in patients’ systems, but the traces of the virus are not infectious or dangerous to the host or other individuals. 

Jung Ki-suck, a professor of pulmonary medicine at Hallym University Sacred Hospital, described the situation as having “many different interpretations and variables,” and that the government must develop responses for each possibility. 

South Korean officials reported 27 new cases on April 10, the lowest daily tally in the country since late February, when there were more than 900 cases per day.    

There are 10,450 total COVID-19 cases in South Korea. Thanks to widespread social distancing measures throughout the country, the number of cases dropped significantly.

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