Is Corona Virus Coming Back ?: South Korea Surprised With “Reactivation”

Anyone who has survived the infection with the coronavirus is considered immune. But 51 cases from South Korea are now a matter of concern. The allegedly healed patients are again tested positive, it is said. The virus has “reactivated” – which is a contradiction to German knowledge.

So far, it has been said about the corona virus that those who have survived the infection are immune. At least temporarily, the virus can no longer harm patients. But a report from South Korea could falter this common assumption. According to the “Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention”, 51 people who are actually considered to be immune have been tested again positive for the virus.

However, the patients apparently did not become infected again. That means the virus should have “reactivated” instead, said agency director Jeong Eun-Kyeong, Bloomberg said. The people were tested shortly after their quarantine expired. A study on this phenomenon should now be carried out, according to Jeong. “There have been many cases where a patient tested negative during one day of treatment and positive on another.”

If it is actually the case that the virus has reactivated in the body of the South Korean patients, this contradicts the findings of German researchers in the ongoing Heinsberg study. For these, 1000 residents from around 400 households were interviewed, throat swabs were taken and blood samples were checked for antibodies. “The virus does not lie dormant in the body,” said Gunther Hartmann from the University Hospital Bonn. However, immunity probably only lasts for 6 to 18 months, says Hartmann.

In South Korea, on the other hand, reports from China are being followed, according to which people had already been discharged from the hospital as cured – and subsequently died of Covid-19. However, it is unclear whether this is due to incorrectly performed tests. A patient is only cured if two consecutive tests within 24 hours are negative.

Despite the potential reactivation of the virus in some patients, South Korea reports good numbers. For the first time since February, the number of new infections recorded daily has dropped to less than 30. In addition, no new case of infection has been registered in the most affected city of Daegu.

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