WHO withdraws alarming warning on 'Covid re-infections'; rephrases adding antibody hope

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, as the cases have been rising globally there has also been a significant number of recoveries in such cases in many parts of the world. More than 2,864,070 cases for the Coronavirus were registered in 193 countries and territories. Of these cases, at least 772,900 are now considered recovered as per reports, even as 200,000 have succumbed.

Many countries have come up with the idea of issuing such recovered patients an 'immunity passport' so as they can return to their daily work n routine.

In a recent briefing, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned countries there is no evidence that people who have had the new coronavirus are immunised and protected against reinfection, raising doubts over the use of “immunity passports” to allow some people at least to return to normal life. However, the world body has now clarified that those who have recovered will have some level of protection, and has issued a more measured statement to this effect, withdrawing the previous one.

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WHO's full statement on 'immunity passports'

About the WHO briefing

According to the erstwhile WHO briefing, "There is currently no evidence that people who have recovered from COVID-19 and have antibodies are protected from a second infection,". Most studies carried out so far showed that people who had recovered from infection had antibodies in their blood - but some of these people had very low levels of antibodies. This suggested that another part of the body's immune response - T-cells, which eliminate infected cells - may also be "critical" for recovery.

As of Friday, no study had evaluated whether the presence of antibodies to the virus conferred immunity to subsequent infection by the virus in humans, the WHO said. "At this point in the pandemic, there is not enough evidence about the effectiveness of antibody-mediated immunity to guarantee the accuracy of an 'immunity passport' or 'risk-free certificate'," it said. The organisation also said laboratory tests to detect antibodies needed further validation to determine their accuracy and also needed to distinguish between previous infection by the SARS-CoV-2 virus - which has caused the pandemic - and the six other known coronaviruses in circulation.

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Countries planning to issue 'immunity passport'

According to a health report, last week Chile informed that it would begin issuing "health passports" to people deemed to have recovered from the illness. In Sweden, which has chosen to keep large parts of society open, some scientists believe people may end up with much higher immunity levels compared with those living under stricter regulations.

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