New Delhi: Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has said re-infection with the novel coronavirus is very rare.
ICMR DG Dr Balram Bhargava said, “We have seen re-infection occurs in case of measles and (if) someone gets measles, he needs to be protected all his life from measles even though he generates certain anti-bodies.”
Pointing out to the case in Hong Kong where a recovered Covid-19 patient was re-infected four-and-a-half months after the first infection, Bhargava said: “It is not a matter of concern. One point to be noted that whenever re-infection occurs, earlier symptoms would have been mild.”
An expert group at the Centre for Disease Control, US Department of Health, had said in its guidance note that people once infected with the virus cannot be said to have developed immunity against re-infection. It, however, said re-infection has not yet been definitely confirmed in any recovered person.