This archive report was first published on 25 August 2020.
On August 24, 2020, researchers at the University of Hong Kong reported a groundbreaking case of Covid-19 re-infection in a 33-year-old man.
The patient was first diagnosed with Covid-19 in late March 2020 and had seemingly recovered. However, four-and-a-half months later, he contracted the virus again while traveling in Europe.
According to the researchers, this is the world's first documented case of a patient who recovered from Covid-19 but got another episode of Covid-19 afterwards.
The finding has significant implications for ongoing vaccine research and raises concerns about the duration of immunity to the virus.
Scientists have been trying to determine whether people can get infected with Covid-19 more than once, with some researchers hesitant to completely dismiss the idea of reinfection.
"What we are learning about infection is that people do develop an immune response, and what is not completely clear yet is how strong that immune response is and for how long that immune response lasts," said Maria Van Kerkhove, World Health Organisation's Covid-19 technical lead and an infectious disease epidemiologist.
