91 South Koreans Test 'Positive' for COVID-19 after Recovery

Seoul, April 11, 2020:

South Korean authorities on Friday reported that 91 patients thought to have recovered from the novel coronavirus had tested positive again, sparking fears that populations could become re-infected with COVID-19 even after recovery.

Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention made the announcement, further adding that the number stood at 51 cases on Monday. However, 40 more cases were added during the week, taking the total tally to 91.

KCDC director Jeong Eun-kyeong said Friday that health investigators were still working to determine whether the patients had been “reactivated” rather than being re-infected.

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This is not the first time something like this has happened. Last month, Japan said a woman who had tested negative earlier had again tested positive for the virus.

Meanwhile, many health officials are of the opinion that a re-infection is highly "unlikely".

Anthony Fauci, the director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told the 

“If a person gets infected with coronavirus A, and then gets reinfected with a coronavirus, it may be coronavirus B,” Fauci said. “But right now, we don’t think that this is mutating to the point of being very different.”

Meanwhile, alarmingly, the United States has recorded over 2,000 deaths in just one day following the coronavirus disease according to the Coronavirus Resource Center at the John Hopkins University.

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The US, which has now becomes the country with the highest cases of coronavirus in the world, has registered 2,108 casualties in the past 24 hours.

The US has now recorded 18,586 deaths, a close second to Italy, which has recorded 18,849 deaths, the most fatalities in the world so far. The US has also recorded more than half a million confirmed cases, with over 35,000 fresh cases in the past 24 hours.