Coronavirus reappears in Chinese woman more than five months after she recovered from initial infection
- Close contacts of the Hubei woman have been tested and returned negative coronavirus results
- Chinese infectious disease expert and South Korean research suggest re-positive cases are not likely to be infectious
The patient is now under quarantine and treatment, according to a statement posted on microblogging platform Weibo.
Close contacts of the woman had been tested and returned negative coronavirus results, the Jingzhou government said in the statement, and the woman’s home and other places she had visited had been disinfected.
“There is no evidence of a risk of transmission from relapsed cases,” the Weibo post said, asking residents not to panic.
Second positive cases are common in China and other countries, but the Jingzhou case may be the longest period a recovered patient has gone before Covid-19 was detected for a second time.
Lu Hongzhou, an infectious disease expert who directs the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Centre, said this was a rare case and the patient was unlikely to be contagious.