After Hong Kong, Telangana reports 2 COVID-19 reinfections raising concerns about immunity

On Tuesday, Telangana reported two cases of COVID-19 reinfection, giving rise to worries that those who have recovered from the disease may not be immune to future infections. As per the Health Ministry of Telangana, two people have tested positive for COVID-19 for a second time. This is the first such case in Telangana where people have contracted coronavirus for the second time.

This comes a day after researchers in Hong Kong reported the first confirmed case of COVID-19 reinfection

As per reports, the Health Ministry of Telangana source said, "The total number of coronavirus cases stands at 1,08,670 in the state. Of these two persons have contracted the deadly virus for the second time. The public should follow COVID-19 guidelines and prevent themselves from getting infected."

Speaking to a Telugu news channel, Director of Public Health Dr G Srinivas Rao said the samples of the infected patients have been sent to research labs which will be studied further to see if any complications can arise due to a reinfection

Telangana currently has 1,11,688 confirmed COVID-19 cases out of which 25,685 are active according to the Health Ministry. A total of 85,223 have recovered since the coronavirus outbreak in the state. The Health Ministry has reported a total of 780 coronavirus deaths in Telangana.

WHO on Coronavirus reinfection

Earlier, Hong Kong reported a man who contracted coronavirus for the second time after over four months. The University of Hong Kong scientists announced that current coronavirus strain is different from the one that infected the man months ago. Following this, the World Health Organization said that there is very little possibility of people being reinfected with COVID-19.

Read | Scientists say Hong Kong man got coronavirus a second time

"The important – other important - thing to note is the numbers are very, very small. So this is one documented case in over 23 million and we will probably see other documented cases. But it seems to be not a regular event, we would have seen many more cases, " said WHO spokesperson Dr Margaret Harris 

Read | 'Telangana Needs To Increase COVID-19 Tests': Union Minister G Kishan Reddy

"The important thing here is that this is clear documentation. So, we've had anecdotal reports every now and then from people who've tested negative, then tested positive. And it hasn't been clear up until this case whether that was simply a problem of testing or whether people were getting infected a second time," she added.

Read | Telangana Gets Its First Plasma Bank For COVID-19 Patients

WHO spokesperson Dr Margaret Harris also said that they have prioritised the need to understand how this will impact our immunity. WHO has research groups tracking people and antibodies and working on understanding how long the antibodies last and protect the person as well as the natural immunity Dr Margaret further said. She also added that WHO is doing it's best to understand the immunity and protection that a vaccine might be able to provide.

Read | WHO: Virus Reinfection Seems Not To Be Regular Event

(With inputs from ANI & AP)