Recovered COVID-19 patients test positive but not infectious, data finds

Enlarge / Medical staff transport patients of a sanatorium where mass coronavirus infections occurred to a hospital in Daegu, South Korea, March 19, 2020. (credit: Getty | Lee Sang-ho | Xinhua News Agency)

People who recover from COVID-19 but test positive for the virus again days or weeks later are not shedding viral particles and are not infectious, according to data released Tuesday by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The so-called re-positive" cases have raised fears that an infection with the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, could reactivate" in recovered patients or that recovering from the infection may fail to produce even short-lived immunity, allowing patients to immediately become re-infected if they are exposed.

The new data from Korea should ease those concerns.

Read 10 remaining paragraphs | Comments