Coronavirus: Woman ‘tests positive’ again after recovering in China

Officials suggest no evidence of risk of transmission from relapsed cases

(AP)

A woman has tested positive for coronavirus for the second time, according to officials in a city in the central province of Hubei, where the virus first emerged.

The 68-year-old tested positive for Covid-19 on 8 February and recovered, the Jingzhou government said.

However, she was hospitalised with an illness and returned a positive result for the virus again on 9 August.

The woman has been quarantined and is receiving treatment, the city said.

Jingzhou officials added that people she has been in contact with have tested negative for Covid-19.

They suggested there is no evidence of a risk of transmission from relapsed cases.

There have been several reports worldwide of people becoming reinfected with the novel coronavirus after recovering from it once.

Almost 300 people in South Korea appeared to test positive after recovering from Covid-19, but health experts later found the results to be false positives.

However, research has suggested immunity to the virus could last just months. A study at King’s College London found the level of antibodies peaked three weeks after the onset of symptoms, before declining after as little as two to three months.

Additional reporting by Reuters